Help Yourself to Life
by Noah St. John

Success anorexia prevents people of above-average intelligence, creativity, and sensitivity from succeeding or allowing themselves to enjoy their own success.

Tell-tale signs of success anorexia include:

* Being unwilling or unable to enjoy your own success
* Embarrassed to accept or to ask for help from others
* Afraid of being or looking less than "perfect"
* Trying to be all things to all people

Other symptoms include:

* Debt, insolvency, or bankruptcy
* Isolating/withdrawal from others (physically or emotionally)
* Procrastination/putting off what's really important to *you* 
* Putting everyone else's needs ahead of your own needs

And:

* Finding it easy to start things and hard to finish them
* Staying in a job far below your talent or abilities
* Believing that "success" means you have to step on people
* Settling for crumbs when you know you deserve better 

Do you feel guilty when you succeed? Are you more afraid of success than failure? When somebody gives you a compliment, do you thank them gracefully and sincerely, or do you "push it away" by saying "Oh, it's nothing much"?

Take a look at the above list. What symptoms of success anorexia do you recognize in your life? 

Write a short letter to yourself about the ways that you notice yourself stopping success from coming into your life. Are you pushing success away as fast as you're trying to let it come in?

Do not beat yourself up or tell yourself you "can't do it."

You CAN do it. You just need to learn how -- and why -- to let yourself succeed.

Over the next few days, begin to notice the little ways you find yourself "saying no" to success. Examples: saying "no" to a friend's invitation to lunch for no reason, not speaking well of yourself to others, or actually putting yourself down when you speak with people.

Remember, these behaviors are just habits that built up over time. They were a defense mechanism designed to protect you and keep you from harm. 

Now is the time to "help yourself" to the bounty of success, happiness, and fulfillment that life has to offer you.

About The Author:

Read an excerpt from Noah St. John's book Permission To Succeed: Unlocking The Mystery of Success Anorexia, and sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.PermissionToSucceed.com

Noah works with people who want to stop pushing their own success away and with companies and organizations who 
want to make a difference in people's lives. Visit http://www.PermissionToSucceed.com or call 413-587-0514.

Article courtesy of MediaPeak, http://www.mediapeak.com.

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