“I would be so successful if someone just gave me a shot!”
Many people out there
have mindsets and attitudes that set them up for failure. When confronted with
possible reasons for failure, or a lack of personal success, they often end up
just making excuses. Here are 10 particular bad habits that keep
those people from achieving success.
1. Loafing
They’ll write that novel just as soon as they’re done with
their favorite show. Oh, but now they’re hungry. They’ll get started after
a snack. Oh, but now that snack has made them sleepy–a little nap couldn’t
hurt, right?
One of the hardest, and
the most obvious, parts of achieving success is the actual work.
Procrastinating, making excuses or tricking themselves into loafing is
just going to cement the fact that nothing will ever get done. It might not
sound pretty, or even too easy, but the easiest way to get to success is to
just jump in and get going (which is exactly how I got started).
2. Blaming
It’s not their fault they’re not successful. The industry is
bad, they don’t have the money, etc. When it comes down to it, however,
who is the one responsible for their success? Themselves.
This is the day and age
where people are launching successful start-ups in a few months, getting
published online and finding their way to success one way or another. Some
things might be out of their control, but blaming others is just going to
waste the energy and time they need to get going.
3. Sour grapes
Being envious of the success of
others is almost as bad as blaming them. All the time and energy
they could be putting into their own goals is going towards a person
who more than likely has done nothing but show them that the goal is
attainable. They don’t have to be applauding their success, but being
envious and sour about it is a waste of time–let it roll off the shoulders
and dig down towards accomplishing goals.
4. Minimizing others
success
Again, they don’t have to be
cheering and raving about the success of others, but minimizing their
accomplishments looks bad on them and on their own goals. If
they attained success, would they want others rolling their eyes and
treating it like it is not a big deal in the slightest? I highly doubt it. “So
they climbed Mount Everest, big whoop. Plenty of people have done it before.”
Have they?
5. Talking
They’re going to do this,
they’re going to do that–the proof is in the pudding, ultimately. Talking
about their goals and what they’re going to accomplish is all well and
good, but talking time is better spent actually doing. Talking about goals has actually been
shown to make you less likely to reach them, so zip up those chattering lips and dive in.
6. Making assumptions
You know what they say about the word
‘assume’, it makes an (inappropriate word I’ll leave out of this article) out
of ‘u’ and ‘me’ . Unsuccessful people are the best at making assumptions
without considering other outlets or opportunities. Missed chance after missed
chance can put anyone behind, or completely ruin something that
they poured a lot of hard work into. People are often surprised at what
happens if they take a chance instead of listening to that little pessimist
inside their heads. ‘Never assume’ is good advice and it is a mindset
they should get out of as quickly as possible.
7. Procrastinating
This one is obvious, isn’t it? It’s about the same as loafing, but even
worse because it applies to multiple areas of our lives. That big project? Eh,
its not due for a week. Dreams? Eh, going to be taking a class to learn how to
write in a few months, I’m just relaxing until then.
Procrastination is
not the friend of successful people. Many of them had to learn how to either
make procrastination work for them or to barrel through it and press on, even
with the proverbial sloth demanding you park it on the couch.
8. Naysaying
“It will never work. It is impossible, I just can’t …”
That is about when it is time to take a good look at what they’re doing. There
are a plethora of people out there that once thought the same thing:
they can’t get a man into space, they can’t find a way for a human to
fly, they can’t cure a disease. Well, people did what was once considered
impossible. If they can defy the entire world, why can’t they defy
the internal pessimist and get there? Don’t say that it is
impossible. In the world we live in today, it seems like impossible is becoming
a word that gets weaker every day.
9. Consuming
Fast food, energy drinks, trash TV–their brain is
sobbing at the thought. With all the time spent taking in things that are not
good for their brain or body, how can anyone expect it to happily balance
out and produce the stuff they need to achieve success? Output should be
greater than input; though they don’t have to take the starving artist
spiel literally. The point is, production is where the value is, not the absorption.
10. Quitting
“Well, I tried.” Sure, they tried once. That horse is shaking its
head and trotting off to find someone who will get back on it. There’s nothing
necessarily wrong with cutting losses sometimes. After all, no experience is
ever truly wasted, but quitting is the mortal enemy to successful people.
If they believe in something, they want to find that success,
there is no road map. You may very well have to carve your own path through
treacherous jungle. If they give up the first time a mosquito bites, then
they’ve doomed themselves already.
Success, in large part,
is about the human being in the arena. People cheer for them, their struggle
and victory, but the person who watches idly and scoffs, having never tried has
also never really lived.
Mindsets are not set in
stone. It is never too late to get started and change perspective. After all,
achieving success is completely up to them; they are the one making
excuses and holding themselves back. Decide when it is time to stand up and
get back into that arena.
By: Tomer Garzberg
Image: z1059.com
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