The No. 1 Threat to Self Development

If you’re an entrepreneur, you quickly learn that whatever’s going on in your life is going on in your business. You’re it.

So you get familiar with sales textbooks, positive thinking manuals, Zig Ziglar and Seth Godin. Both Fast Company and the Bible are on my nightstand, and Mentored by a Millionaire is my downtime reading material. Success is the goal, because success means revenue. It means good relationships. People like to be associated with success. It means repeat business because we can count in you to get the job done.

Success is also a blood-sucking parasite that can leech all the drive out of your passion to do things that matter.

The pervasive thought is that “Success breeds success.” That’s only true if you want a repeat performance of exactly what you did before.

The nature of the human spirit is growth. Growth means change.

Success is dangerous when you expect past success to provide you a formula for present conditions. It can numb you to the subtle differences between yesterday and today. A pat on the back and “Job well done!” doesn’t necessarily translate to continued support in the future.

You have to release attachment from everything in order to grow– even those things that feel they’ve worked in the past.

Especially the things that have worked in the past.

It’s a mistake to say the world is changing. It’s not changing. It’s changed. Celebrate not the tangible evidence of success, but the intangible assurance that you are capable of doing things that matter.

Be bold and try new things– even those things that you will fail at.

What past success do you replay in your mind? Are you looking for the principles behind it, or a formula you can replicate?

Feel free to start a dialogue in the comments, and share this post with someone who needs it.