I’ve seen incredibly talented people not get the job, miss the promotion or even lose business to a less skilled competitor. You probably have too, or maybe you’ve even been one of them.

It’s not that these high achievers aren’t motivated or talented, it’s that they succumbed to some of the traps so common to high performers.

Here are four traps that often weaken otherwise A-players and how you can avoid them:

1. Being terrified of big, public failure.

Being afraid of failure, especially public failure, can keep otherwise ambitious people on the sidelines. Yet the innovators and entrepreneurs we admire fell flat on their faces, sometimes multiple times before their “breakthrough.” If you’re finding yourself afraid of failing, consider these rebound stories:

Early in his career, Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper for “not being creative enough.” Vera Wang only went into fashion after she didn’t make the U.S. Olympic figure skating team. Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, only created LinkedIn after his online dating network called SocialNet flopped.

If you’re a high-achieving person, tattoo this into your heart: You’ll fail more often and it will hurt more. It’s the price to pay for ambition.

2. Saying no to perceived “tangents.”

I started my first role at Proctor & Gamble with one clear ambition: to claw my way into middle management. From there, I would move into a regional role and then into senior leadership. Hopefully one day, I’d be an executive. It all sounded so perfectly constructed – a quick, linear journey sure to impress.

And then, it didn’t go like that. Because hardly anyone’s career goes according to the plan. It’s a natural evolution that can sound the alarms in the brain of high achievers.

In his book “Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World,” author David Epstein cites his research of the world’s top performers – from professional athletes to Nobel laureates – to demonstrate that the paths of high-achieving people aren’t always perfectly linear.

High performers often find their paths late after they explore a huge breadth of ideas, roles and industries.

So if your next role, project or industry feels like a big old wrench in your most perfectly laid-out plan, take a deep breath and recognize that the high performers often do things that don’t initially seem like they go together.

3. Being overly dependent on positive feedback.

High achievers are often driven by that ever-present, subconscious whisper of not good enough. Many have come to determine that an effective way to get that voice to be quiet is to drown it out with positive feedback. The challenge is that waiting for positive feedback subjects you to the whims of others. It can become gut-wrenching when your boss walks off in a hurry or your carefully constructed email goes unanswered in the swirl of daily business.

To mitigate this trap, make a practice of complimenting yourself. I know it sounds a little bit silly at first, but mentally acknowledge yourself when you go the extra mile. Being proud of yourself will enable you to stay emotionally leveled once your work and ideas go out into the universe.

4. Never giving up.

Most motivational speeches end with some form of never give up. It’s terrible advice to give a naturally ambitious person. The truth is that sometimes you should absolutely give up. Cutting the cord on a bad idea or a crumbling organization may be the smartest thing to do.

As Amanda Setili wrote, “There are people who get stuck trying to succeed doing something that makes no sense for them to do. Or, perhaps more often, they’re so busy pursuing something with moderate success that they feel they can’t pivot to pursue even bigger opportunities. Knowing that quitting is an option gives you the ability to be clear-eyed regarding what to do next.”

Imagine if Reed Hoffman had never given up SocialNet? If you are an ambitious person, recognize that giving up is always a choice and, often, a quite viable one.

High achievers are known for their ambition, dedication and hard work. If you’ve set out to make it big, don’t let these four traps hold you back.

– Lisa Earle McLeod is a leadership consultant and the author of several books.