8 Reasons Why Success Eludes You
Life has a tendency to surround us with so much ‘stuff’ that we often forget the end game, or the goal we’re striving for. Years are burned this way. You wake up after 3 years at a job, having never been promoted, and wonder what happened. Are you destined for mediocrity? Do you not know how to move forward in life?
There are never simple answers here. If there were, we’d all be clown-happy 24/7 and frankly anyone telling you that they can solve all of your problems is more likely to inject you with nothing but false hope that will eventually lead to your failure.
So let’s step back for a second and hit on a couple of reasons why you’re not leaping forward towards your goals. Again, not a fool proof plan but if one of these resonates with you, take steps to correct or modify the situation.
- You’re Not Putting In Enough Time
The first rule about achieving success is that it won’t magically happen overnight. It often takes weeks, months or even years to achieve it. If you think that you can put in a few hours of work and see the results you want, think again.
Before you blame anyone or anything else with your lack of success, ask yourself the question if you’ve been putting in enough time or have you been taking shortcuts? Be honest with yourself. Have you?
- You’re Not Putting In Enough Effort
If being successful was easy then don’t you think everyone would be successful?
It takes a serious amount of hard work and effort to be successful. If you want to lose weight or gain muscle, you need to train hard for weeks on end to see results. If you want to make money or build your business, you need to work hard at it. If you want to get better at socializing, you need to put in the effort to learn to get better.
Are you putting in enough effort to get the success you want?
I’ve personally written over 250 unique articles related to personal development before I started seeing any significant results with my blog. Considering that each article is about a different topic and is over 1000 words long, it’s indicative that it requires hard work – a lot of it – before seeing success.
- You’re Not Following A Proven Strategy
Even if you’re disciplined enough to put in a lot of time and a lot of effort, if you’re not following a proven strategy for success you’re just wasting your resources. Break apart your goal into smaller pieces and then look for someone that has perfected the pieces so you can then determine what works and doesn’t in your situation.
With pretty much everything that you’re trying to achieve, there is someone who has already done it before you. Why re-invent the wheel? You’ll see results much faster if you take a method proven to give success and put your time and effort into following a that strategy as it pertains to your goal. However, go in knowing that there is no template so you have to somewhat make the process your own.
- You Have A Bad Sense of Entitlement
What I mean by this is that you don’t feel that you deserve the success you want to achieve.
If for any reason you subconsciously believe that you’re not good enough for the success you want, or that you haven’t really done anything to deserve it, then you’re trying to swim against the stream. You know where you’re going but you’re fighting yourself every step of the way, and sometimes even sabotaging your own progress.
Your subconscious mind is like a machine, and it’s designed to do exactly what it’s been programmed to do. Your subconscious mind is programmed by your conscious thoughts and actions. Both good and bad habits reside in your subconscious mind and you know from the definition that a habit is an automatic action created through conscious repetition.
Thus…if through your own thoughts or social conditioning, you’ve programmed your subconscious mind in a way that you’re not good enough to achieve success or that you deserve to achieve success, you’ll always be fighting yourself. (e.g. If you always tell yourself “I’m a loser” then your subconscious will always guide you towards things that will make that statement true.)
Stop thinking negative thoughts and start to reprogram your subconscious mind with positive and successful thoughts.
- You’re Not Giving Enough Value
Give and you shall receive.
In most cases you need to give value before you see any success come to you. Whether your “giving” is in the form of entertainment, services, products or motivation does not matter. As long as you’re making a difference to someone’s life or making someone’s life easier…you’re giving value.
If you’re not seeing the success you want, ask yourself if you’re giving enough value to others. What can you do to give more value? People love high value for money (or time), so the more value you give, the more success you can expect to have.
- You’re Spreading Yourself Too Thin
A common cause for lack of success is that you spread yourself too thin across too many projects.
There are dozens of interesting methods and time-consuming activities in any niche, and it’s way too easy to get seduced into trying more than you can handle. There are only 24 hours in a day and you can only focus your attention and effort on so many things before you become incompetent at everything you do.
Focus your energy on doing 1 or 2 projects at a time, with the best possible work you can do. Anything more than this and you’re just diluting your skills and as a consequence…your success gets diluted too!
Don’t try to be a jack of all trades, become a master of one. Do one thing, with all your focus and energy, and do it right.
- You’re Not Remarkable
Seth Godin (A popular writer and bestselling author) really emphasizes the importance of being remarkable with your business and your marketing. You need to stand out and be remarkable, because there are way too many people all trying to fit in and follow the same boring strategies.
Ask yourself:
What makes you different from your competition? Is your product much better? How about your customer service?
If you can’t answer those questions immediately then maybe it’s time to consider making some changes to your approach and strategy.
- You’re Playing It Safe
If you’re worried what the world will think of you and what others will say about you then you’re seriously handicapping your chances of achieving success. You’ll likely take the “safe” route for all your decisions, and by safe I mean boring and with mediocre results.
You may think that taking risks will without a doubt hurt your success…but sometimes playing it safe can hurt your success much more than you think.
Playing it safe and sticking to the same path as all your competition will at best produce decent results, and at worst cost you a lot of time and money. Taking a risk by trying something new may result in a waste of your resources, but it could also result in amplifying your success tenfold.
Don’t be afraid to risk humiliating yourself or wasting resources by trying something new. If you fail, people may laugh but if you succeed, people will support you, respect you and cheer you on.
*There’s a difference between doing something risky and something stupid. You don’t want to bet the farm on a coin-toss.
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Written on 8/4/2011 by Diggy. Diggy is the author of one of the top personal development blogs on the web, where he helps people find happiness and success. If you’re looking for more inspiration and advice to live life to the fullest you may want to download his free ebook: 117 proven tips to change your life for good. | Photo Credit: dave was already taken |
