Is your learning style afraid of success?

Are you afraid of success? What a silly question. Everybody wants to succeed - or do they?

Most of us fail a lot more often than we succeed, so we are used to failure. It may be disappointing, it may even hurt, but it’s something we’ve got to know over the years.

Success, on the other hand, plucks us right out of our comfort zone. If one of our dreams materialises, we venture into the unknown. If we get that promotion we crave, we will get a new office and have to learn a new set of skills. If we buy a bigger house, we’ll have to move to a new neighbourhood. If we become successful, we may lose a few friends along the way. Change, change, change.

(Does your learning style have a preference for change or for routine? Click here to find out.)

Failure feels familiar. Success sounds scary.

And that’s not only on a psychological level. The latest research reveals that - on a physic level - we also crave what we know. Our brain gets addicted to the chemicals produced by the known, so if we are used to trying and failing, our brain will get hooked on the cocktail of failure.

This is especially true of people whose learning style needs stability and a low level of variety in order to function best. If such a person is thrown into the changes associated with even the happiest change (success, realisation of dreams), they will experience nervousness, stress and discomfort.

Part of the solution is to understand the problem. If you realise that fear is just part of the journey towards success for you, you will be able to deal with it better.


To analyse your learning style in the work environment, particularly your attitude to changes, have a look at this free online demo.