How prepared are we for the success we really long for? And how much does that preparation shape how likely we are to reach the success we really long for?

A lot is said and done and known about navigating failure and setback and dealing with difficult emotions. What if that is all as applicable, relevant and important for success and the emotions which come with it? Emotions which can sometimes be just as difficult. 

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.’

The often quoted lines from Marianne Williamson emphasise that sometimes success and the prospect of success can be even more daunting than that of failure. 

Imagined you have fulfilled your image of the success you really long for? 

What does it feel like? 

How easy would it be for you to accept and embrace that success? 

If we embrace that success, who have we become to achieve it? 

The discomfort of success could be as much as it disproves the beliefs we have that we may not be worthy. Beliefs we have learnt or adopted to keep us safe from the prospect of our efforts not achieving the success we long for but at the same time hindering our capacity to be open to the opportunities that convey success.

For example, if you are going to catch a ball it can be helpful to keep your eye on the ball and your hands free and open to catch it. 

What if success or opportunities for the success we long for pass us by because our hands are not free to catch it? 

How do our feelings towards success compare to failure? 

What is our relationship to success and failure and what does that say about us? 

And what if what they both say is how worthy we see ourselves? 

There may be many reasons for not feeling ready for success: experiences of past efforts and setbacks, what we’ve observed and heard from others, what the wider world tells us about what success is, how you achieve it and who is therefore worthy of that success. 

None of this is to say that the success we long for is always easy to achieve, it is to say that of the things we can control, of which the outcome is rarely one of them, how we open ourselves to the possibility of success is something we can control.

We can ask ourselves how we really feel about the possibility of succeeding in what we really long for? What excites us about it? What scares us about it? What will that success confirm about us that could feel uncomfortable for us?

We can practice cultivating a sense of worthiness that truly believes we are deserving of the success we long for. We can surround ourselves with people and things that remind us of that inherent worthiness. We can take steps we only take when we feel worthy (if you knew you are worthy, as you are, what would you do differently?). 

We can visualise the success we long for and feel the quality of that vision and practice embodying that quality to familiarise ourselves with the feeling when it comes. 

We can practice acknowledging and celebrating our smaller successes, for if we don’t see those or honour them, how can we ever honour the bigger successes? 

What do you need to be more prepared to embrace success? 

What is the scariest thing about the prospect of success?

What do you need to let go of to be able to embrace success?

What small successes can you start acknowledging to ready you for future success?

What practices will ready you for success? 

What would be possible if we were all ready and skilled to receive the success we really long for in our lives? 

As Marianne Williamson concluded, readying ourselves for success is an act of service to others for 

‘...as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.’