Do You Have an Unconscious Fear of Success?

My experiences working with traders, athletes and entertainers have taught me a great deal about human nature and the many ways individuals can sabotage their success because of unconscious fears.

Traders and athletes are viciously competitive by nature and set a high bar for their daily, monthly and yearly goals. They want to be the best, and they follow a specific strategy, discipline and work ethic to become elite within their chosen professions. Ambition, tenacity and competitiveness seem to be universal among successful individuals.

However, it is fascinating to watch these same individuals struggle to achieve some of their toughest goals. In essence, many of them get close, but never get the cigar. Which variables seem to make their engines fail in the last lap of the race?

In order to examine this phenomenon, I turn to baseball players Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees and Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants, and how long it took each to reach, respectively, 500 and 756 home runs, historic plateaus in their careers. A-Rod, who accomplished it earlier this month, endured a horrific slump while he waited for his magical shot. Bonds, who broke Hank Aaron's Major League Baseball home run record with his blast on Aug. 7, also dragged out his quest for baseball immortality.