Many small-business owners know their business could be more successful. But did you know that many entrepreneurs are actually stopping themselves from the success that's right within their reach?

Not many people realize that the same mechanism that causes eating disorders (such as anorexia) also causes millions of people to starve themselves of success. While this may sound strange, this condition, known as "success anorexia," actually causes the fear of success and self-sabotage behaviours we're more familiar with:

People with success anorexia:

• Read self-help literature but can't use it to improve their own lives.
• Make much less than they're capable of making.
• Expect themselves to be perfect.
• Find it easy to start projects and hard to finish them.
• Fell guilty saying "no" to others.
• Settle for crumbs even though they know they deserve better.

You can stop starving yourself of success by first identifying people who can support you unconditionally. While this may sound touchy-feely, the fact remains that most of us need support from others (like teachers or mentors) to become all we want to be.

Second, many business owners need to become willing to succeed. Many are actually more afraid of success than failure because of underlying emotional forces. You can counteract this by realizing that stopping yourself from success not only doesn't help others, it actually hurts those you're closest to.

Finally, set a Goal-Free Zone in your life: a time and place when you don't do anything. Many of us feel overwhelmed by our to-do lists and believe the world will end if we don't achieve everything today. Take 10 minutes a day to stop setting or achieving goals.

These simple action can be the first steps to allowing you and your business to be all you can be.