The Best Ways to Deal with Newly Found Success
Quick success, whether personal or in your career, could put you in a position that you’ve never experienced in the past. Getting promoted, suddenly coming into wealth, or just making your dreams come true could all have a enormous impact on your self-perception and your relationships with others. Sometimes, this impact could be anything but positive.
For many people, getting to make their personal or professional dreams come true is associated with more stress than struggling to get from point A to point B.
Are you equipped to deal with newly found success in your career or personal life? A few key strategies can help you make the mental adjustments needed to maintain your happiness and meaningful relationships with others, regardless of the significant changes in your life.
The Perils of Success: Why It’s Going to Change Your Life
Success can impact your life in several ways. The first and the most obvious problem you might have to deal with is jealousy. Alienation and your insecurities could heighten the impact of this negative experience.
To pinpoint the best strategy for dealing with success, we’ll first have to identify some of the biggest and most damaging issues associated with it:
- Being treated differently by loved ones: Yes, it’s a possible problem! Do you think that your friends are distancing themselves from you? Are your romantic relationships suffering? Many other successful people go through the same—jealousy and a competitive spirit could make the people who love you act strangely.
- Self-doubt: You may think that you don’t deserve success, and somebody else would have been much better than you. Self-doubt is your biggest enemy, the one that stands in the way of unleashing your full potential. Fear and doubt in your capacity will probably always accompany you, but it’s important to learn how to control these sentiments.
- Guilt: “Am I worthy enough?” Do you feel guilty about being successful? So many people feel guilty about being rich, professionally successful, or famous. Guilt can trap you, hold you hostage, and take away from the sweetness of your accomplishments. You’ll have to act consciously to defeat this powerful, negative sentiment.
Managing Your Relationships with Others
To maintain and fully experience your success, you’ll first have to put your relationships with others in order. Whether you need to improve the situation with your friends or your former work peers, follow a couple of ground rules to keep relationships meaningful and kick jealousy to the curb.
- Address the shift head-on: Don’t try too hard to be liked. Significant relationships are always based on authenticity, and if you’re experiencing a change, you have to address it rather than pretend that nothing has happened. It’s possible that you’re no longer capable of going out with your friends two times per week. If these people truly love and appreciate you, they will accept the changes in your life and help you work on maintaining a meaningful relationship.
- Relationships at the office: This is where it gets tricky for people who have experienced rapid success or a sudden promotion. Resentment and distrust from colleagues will often accompany a development, making them change their behaviour. If you’ve been promoted to a leadership position, be gentle about introducing significant changes. Take some time to get used to the new position and the new office dynamic that come with it. Establish your authority and consider slightly distancing yourself. Personal friendships with one or two colleagues could lead to questions and even more resentment in the future. When the team goes out for drinks, you may want to stay behind. It shouldn’t appear that you’re favouring an individual or two—you could be jeopardising your professional success this way.
- Form new meaningful relationships: Many successful people focus on the personal and professional relationships that have been affected by their sudden success. Chances are, you’re going through the same. Instead of just trying to make it up to these individuals, from some new meaningful relationships. If you’ve been promoted to a managerial position, you’ll need to acquaint yourself with the other managers. Relationships will be reshaped, and new ones will be formed because of your success. The sooner you accept the facts, the easier it will be to manage and sustain meaningful interactions with others.
Several Other Important Tips for Dealing with Career Success
Dealing with success and its impact on your life goes beyond personal and professional relationships. There will be several other essentials that you’ll need to focus.
Always set goals! This is particularly important for those individuals that have experienced a rapid career change and for the ones that have suddenly come to wealth. Success could blind you for a certain period and make you feel that you don’t have to put any effort in maintaining the momentum. Sooner or later, however, you’ll end up disappointed because of numerous missed opportunities. Set goals for the future, work towards their accomplishment, and you’ll maintain your motivation (and happiness)!
If you’ve inherited lots of money, you’ll also have to deal with the so-called “sudden wealth syndrome.” People that go through sudden wealth syndrome usually experience anxiety or panic attacks associated with the newly-acquired wealth, sleep disorder, sudden mood swings and even guilt about being wealthy. Work with a therapist is one of the best options for overcoming these problems, especially if the symptoms are debilitating.
Work towards keeping your life meaningful. Being successful will deprive you of the opportunity of working towards your goals. This way, you can lose solid ground and direction. Look for new meaning in your life. Now that you’re professionally-accomplished, it might be time to start pursuing your personal or romantic goals. Finding a reason to keep on working and improving yourself will help you feel that you have a purpose once again.
Trust in yourself and your instincts. You’re the one who made everything happen. Believing in your abilities and knowing that you can go far will keep you moving and accomplishing. Don’t quit just because you now have success. CThe chances are that you’re capable of doing even bigger things if you want to.
About the Author: WilmaDerksen C.E.C., Life Coach
