3 Big Reasons Why You’re Not Hungry Enough to Be Successful & How You Can Change That!
July 27, 2016 12:00 AM EST | 5 min read
Who doesn’t want to be successful?
Almost all of us want to succeed in life.
However, most of us will go through our entire life without even experiencing the sweet taste of success!
Have you ever wondered why?
Well, I did!
I spent quite a lot of time researching the habits and psychology of successful people just to find out what the difference between them and the rest of the population is.
What I found out was not only an eye opener of my behavior, but also gave me an explanation about why many people are not hungry for success.
We have several unconscious beliefs around success.
Although in our dreams, we might like to be successful and enjoy a life of freedom, choices, and luxury, the reality is different.
The very thought of being successful or even being surrounded by successful people can bring up many fear and insecurity.
This very uncomfortable feeling makes us run away into our closet of life and miss out on the variety of great experiences that life has to offer.
That is why we are not hungry for success.
In my lifestyle coaching work with women, I realized that there are 3 big reasons that keep us away from the hunger for success:
1. Visibility: the nemesis of those hungry for success.
When we become successful, we tend to receive a lot of attention.
Even though deep inside of us, we may love being the center of attention, for many of us, it may bring up our challenges.
Being visible will mean we must always maintain ourselves to the standards and expectations of the people watching us.
Blending in the crowd is easy.
This is what most of us are used to in our daily life.
However, being in the spotlight is not.
For example – look at some of the young celebrities.
Their visibility sometimes leads to ruining their career.
They fall under the constant pressure of being watched all the time.
The good thing about being successful and visible is that people look up to you.
That means you then can positively influence people and inspire them by being a living example.
2. Peer Pressure
We worry that if we become successful, our friends and family will not recognize or like us the way we were before.
We worry that we will lose our place among them.
Sometimes we may even think that people from our past know us in a certain way and will not accept the new us.
Many of the women that I worked with had an unconscious belief that if they become successful, their loved ones may feel too small and inadequate among them.
The desire to feel accepted and to fit in society is one of the strongest forces within us humans.
We may not be taken as that ‘cool’ person anymore who used to like to fool around.
Instead, our social circle may think that we have become too serious about our life.
The good thing about being successful is that it opens you to a whole new world of successful people who are living an aware, smart, free, and abundant lifestyle and can contribute to society in a much bigger way.
I am sure each one of us wants to contribute to a better society.
3. Constant Change
Being successful also involves fears, such as the fear of public speaking.
When we become successful, we will have to make many lifestyle changes, make quick decisions, and learn new things.
We fear that we will have to be constantly alert to face challenges at any given time and that we may lose control of the situation.
We over-analyze every situation to avoid failing.
Life is a constant motion, and the only thing constant in life is change.
All humans are creative creatures and capable of being adaptive to changes.
Once we accept this belief, facing changes becomes easier and much more rewarding.
I invite you to pause here for a moment and become honest with yourself.
Are any of these 3 big reasons stopping you to follow the success trail that you dream of?
They certainly did for me and the many people I have met and read about.
The good thing is that at least you become aware that these unconscious beliefs may be hindering your success.
So what can you do to get your hunger for success back?
Get clarity on your life‘s purpose.
This is the one motivating factor for successful people.
The Japanese called this inquiry of getting clarity on your life’s purpose ‘Ikigai’.
‘Ikigai’ means ‘reason for being’.
According to Japanese tradition, ‘Ikigai’ is the reason for you to wake up in the morning.
It is why you look forward to every new day in your life.
Here are 4 questions that can help you get closer to your ‘Ikigai’, i.e. your life’s purpose, so that you are no longer running away from success.
These 4 questions can assist you in opening up to infinite possibilities that life has to offer to you to grow as an individual, feel fulfilled in your life, and make a difference in society.
- What do you love to do?
- Does the world need anything?
- Are you good at anything?
- What can you get paid for?
Once you can clarify these questions for yourself and begin to take small action steps every single day, you will begin to get closer to your life’s purpose.
And yes, the hunger to succeed to fulfill your life’s purpose in this world will never leave you!
This is how I discovered my sacred purpose of assisting busy women to explore their femininity in order to experience more energy, fulfillment, and pleasure while avoiding burnout.
Success is for everyone, including you, if you activate your hunger for it.
Are you ready?
Raju Rastogi
August 14, 2020 at 4:02 AM
Right now i am feeling like i have no hunger at all. I am trying to become a data scientist. The thing is i am starting from scratch and it will take at least six months to study and acquire the basic knowledge to apply for a job in same field. I have started my learning from January 2020. But six months are over and i am still struggling in my leaning practice.
There is a saying “if you are failing in prepare, you are preparing to fail”. This is my biggest concern right now. I have seen many failures from Jan 2020 to today august 2020. If i look back to my past six months i have prepared only 10% for the job role.
Now i have to rise the question to myself that, “Am I really good in this field? Do i have any hunger left in me?