7 fears and fears that slow your personal and work success

April 25, 2024

Fear is a sensation that produces great anguish and suffering to the person who suffers it , and that can be originated by a real cause, because it is an adaptive emotion that has helped the human species survive over the centuries.

However, people can experience irrational fears towards objects or thoughts. Regarding the latter, some fears may be a consequence of dysfunctional beliefs and unreal expectations.

Not everyone is afraid of the same stimuli. In our article "The 16 types of fear and their characteristics" you can know the different kinds of fear that exist.

The relationship of fear with personal development

Fear is closely linked to the personal development of a person, because some of these fears force people to behave in a way that they do not really want. For example, fear of the unknown can cause a person to reject a job that they like because they do not know what they will find , or makes you avoid leaving a country you want to discover since you do not think you can survive far from your home.

These fears are limiting beliefs that do not allow individuals to change or surpass themselves even when they feel they want or should. These fears, in fact, are very frequent, and sometimes it is necessary to have the help of an expert in personal development to help the person to experience in their own skin that the beliefs that they have are limiting their true potential.

Fears that prevent growth and development

But what types of fear affect a person's personal and work development? In the following lines we explain them to you.

1. Fear of failure

Fear of failure is one of the most paralyzing fears that most affect the personal and work development of a person . It is a fear that causes much suffering and has its origin in the irrational expectations that a person has.

It can also be caused by what others think of him if he does not achieve what he proposes, that is, is related to the opinion of others. It is characteristic perfectionists, and affects the welfare of these.

You can delve into this type of fear in our article: "Fear of failure: when anticipating defeat immobilizes us"

2. Fear of uncertainty

The fear of uncertainty is related to vital projects or tasks that a person can perform . For example, when someone has to accept a job but because they believe they will not be ready, they reject it. On the other hand, the fear of uncertainty is a concept that is related to the comfort zone or that mental place in which we feel safe, whether or not we are happy in it.

The fear of uncertainty affects personal development and produces a great anxiety in the face of change, not so much because of failure or not, but because of the fear that it will be worse what comes from what we already have. It is irrational because even if what we have is bad, it immobilizes the person in the face of change.

In short, it refers to the fear of the unknown, to the fear that appears when it is difficult for us to visualize the future we want.

3. Fear of rejection

Fear of rejection is a type of fear that affects interpersonal relationships and that is intimately related to low self-esteem. It usually affects the person especially when it comes to finding a partner, but also to other types of interpersonal relationships such as friendship or co-workers. The fear of rejection is also associated with the fear of ridicule and being bad in front of others.

4. Fear of loneliness

The fear of loneliness is also a fear that does not allow us to grow , since it makes us have dependency behaviors towards other people, and that is why we can get to annul ourselves and we can set aside our own needs and interests to not be alone. People with fear of loneliness can end up immersed in traumatic relationships and continue in them despite the pain they feel.

5. Fear of commitment

The fear of compromise is the opposite of the previous fear, because what The person is worried about committing to the wrong person . This does not mean that we should be with someone by force because you can live happily when you are single, but it can mean that when you meet someone interesting, we can back off and avoid having intimacy with that person and giving them our confidence.

It is possible to be happy and be single as we tell you in our article "Is it possible to be single and be happy? The 8 benefits of not having a partner "

6. Fear of criticism

One of the fears that are related to the evaluation that others make of us is the fear of criticism . This fear consists of fearing the disapproval of others and that what we do does not please others. It is very disabling, for example, for people who try to succeed in the world of entertainment.Being afraid of criticism can lead a person to perform below their true potential.

7. Jonah Complex

The Jonah complex is also known as fear of success , and it is a phenomenon that has been studied from the point of view of humanistic psychology. In fact, it is a term that Abraham Maslow spoke of in his book The Farther Reaches of Human Nature published in 1971.

The Jonas complex has to do with the highest part of the "Pyramid of human needs" proposed by this psychologist, that is, the concept of self-realization "or that of achieving the maximum potential that an individual possesses. For Maslow, the Jonah complex manifests itself when the person is afraid to express their best version.