When I see people pulling back from taking risks, risks that perhaps they know they should be taking—my experience is that it’s rarely because they’re afraid of failing. Most of the time it's because they’re afraid of succeeding.

What I mean is—when we become good risk-takers, we often find ourselves in positions of increasing responsibility.But more than that, in taking risks for important, positive goals, we find a personal power, clarity and passion that we might rarely feel otherwise, that many people never feel. It’s our “A” game and playing it forces us to give up that old comfortable picture of ourselves with all those limitations we thought we had.

We all do this at times, allowing ourselves to be held back by those limitations. It’s the Devils We Know (“I’m not senior enough, well-spoken enough… I don't have the time, the right training to do that… Charlie will know better what to do…").

Moving past our perceived limitations to take a risk, stretching the field of our own competence without them—can be frightening. It means that we must confront head-on our own worthiness, and our responsibility to be leaders and agents for change. It’s not about becoming a superhero. I’m talking about having a practical, positive influence on our places of work, our families, our communities.

And having that influence is like learning to swim. Once you know you can take these risks, have this influence, you can’t pretend you can’t. You can see your life changing. You’re in a different place.It’s exciting—and it’s scary.

There are no easy answers for dealing with this fear. It’s a fear not of failure but of success. It’s a call to truly live our potential on this earth. The challenge is as much spiritual as psychological. All we can do then is reach into that very deepest part of ourselves and say "Yes, this one has my name all over it—I'll take it on."