I am kind of tired of people telling me about their failures and why the can’t make it. They share all the justifications, reasons, stories, and blame on life and other people as why they are failing.
OK- I am going to be blunt here- if you can’t take it look away or stop reading this now. If you are failing it’s your own fault—seriously be a man and just fess up to it. Here are the reasons why you are failing and what to do about it:
#1 — Because you don’t own it
OK life has been cruel to you and you have had some bad breaks. We all have—including me. I have lost a wife to sudden tragedy, lost a child, and have had some tough times. But guess what, everyone has or will have bad breaks someday. Stop blaming others and the circumstances.
What to do about it: Get up off the floor and just say “I own my success or failure and I am going to do something about it.” No one can save you but you.
#2 — Because you don’t take action
The biggest reason many people are failures is that don’t take action, they sit around and talk about it. I once met a woman who wanted to write a book. We had lunch and talked it through and I told her step by step what she needed to do to get a book written and published. She then told me all the reasons why that wouldn’t work.
What to do about it: Write down some actions you can take and start doing them now, today in the next two hours. You can do this if you just stop talking about it and do it.
#3 — Because you don’t write it down– If you want something get out a pen and a paper, a stone and chisel, bark and ink, and come on man, just write it down now.
What to do about it: Once you have written it down look at it every day and burn it into your mind and everyday focus on getting one step closer to that goal.
#4 — Because you don’t do the work
No one is successful who isn’t willing to do the work, to give the time and effort and energy to make it happen. Scott Adams, the famous cartoonist who has drawn the Dilbert comic strip for years, got up at 4:00 a.m. every morning to work on his comic strip creation before going to his regular job.
What to do about it: Carve out time to do the work and commit to doing it. Work a few hours in the morning before you go to your real job. Work on it at night and on weekends. Give up watching your three hours of TV a night. Don’t tell me you are tired—do you want this or not? You have to give to get. People ask me all the time how I have written 19 books—it’s simple—just hard work. You go the mill and you saw the boards. It’s not glamorous, but that is the truth.
#5 — Because you let other people stop you
As I mention in my book Jumpstart Your Motivation, there will be people who will try to discourage and stop you> I call them ESV’s— Energy Sucking Vampires. These people love to tear you down. Don’t let them.
What to do about it: be clear about it and damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead and tell the ESV’s where they can go- you are going somewhere else and don’t buy their failure mindset.
So today take a look in the mirror and realize it’s just up to you. And if you put your mind to it you can do anything. Everyone from Steve Jobs to Walt Disney to Abe Lincoln were failures at one time. They didn’t stop, didn’t quit, and didn’t blame anyone or anything else. They just pulled themselves up and made it happen. And guess what, they weren’t special, they put their pants on in the morning the same way as you. You can do this you just have to seize failure and wrestle it to the ground, and you will win.
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This post is republished on Medium.
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