Top Ten Reasons We Fail

Grinnell Mutual

“Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.”

- Napoleon Hill. ?

We had a discussion on what is true success and what makes us successful. The statements that you have shared last week appear better than those you find when doing some reading and research. During the next week’s editions we will share what are the top 10 reasons we fail to succeed. While this list is not perfect, I found it interesting and helpful. It gives us things to ponder about. Let’s start the countdown.\

Number 10: Surrounding yourself with the wrong people.

There is a saying that you become the same type of person you regularly surround yourself with. You end up picking up their habits, traits, and characteristics. Most parents warned us not to run around with the wrong crowd, or the wrong people, and they were generally correct. The wrong people may have negative attitudes that can easily rub off those they associate with. Since most individuals have a tendance to associate with those with similar beliefs, or similar activities, a group think mindset develops. Everyone wants to fit in and to do this their personal options become changed to the group’s norms. There is also a tendency for the group to self-regulate itself. If you put a group of crabs into a bucket and one begins to crawl out of that bucket, the remaining crabs will pull it down, back into the group. I have observed this happening within a work environment that my wife was in. Ultimately that crab will give up and accept the fate of the entire group. ?The safest way to become successful is to surround yourself with people that have similar success desires that you have. This will amplify your journey.

Number 9: Lack of Persistency

Everyone will encounter a situation where they might develop a lack of persistency when working for a specific goal. When you are working hard and applying great effort and time toward a worthy goal, it becomes exhausting when you fail to see any progress. This problem is caused because we do not know when that breakthrough will occur. There isn’t a Google Map that charts our course, reroutes us if we make a wrong turn, tells us how many miles our left on our trip, and informs us on how much longer the trip will take. If you take a sledgehammer with the goal of splitting a large rock in two, no one can tell you how may strikes it will take to accomplish this. All we know is that it will take at least one more than the last strike. History is full of examples of those who remained persistent with their journey to success. Micheal Jordan, one of the greatest basketball players of all time,

was cut from his high school basketball team during his sophomore year, Thomas Edison failed over 1,000 times has he was inventing the light bulb, and then there is Abraham Lincoln, who is still considered one of the greatest of all US Presidents.

President Lincoln:

• Lost his job in 1832.
• Failed in business in 1833.
• Elected to the state legislator in 1834.
• His sweetheart died in 1835.
• Had a nervous breakdown in 1836.
• Defeated for state speaker in 1838.
• Defeated in a primary for US Congress in 1843.
• Elected to congress in 1846.
• Lost renomination to congress in 1848.
• Rejected for local land officer in 1849.
• Defeated for US Senate in 1854.
• Defeated for nomination for Vice President in 1856
• Defeated for US Senate in 1858.
• And Elected President of the US in 1860.

Number 8: Overthinking

Overthinking is the inability to decide when facing a problem. Sometimes when we are hesitant to make a prompt, critical, and difficult decision we delay that decision by searching for additional information. This can result in endless wrangling over the upsides and downsides of each option, and an inability to pick a specific action plan.

Here is an example. At 3:00 p.m. my wife asks me to make 6:00 reservations at a restaurant in a city that we are not familiar with. It is important that I make the correct decision, one that my spouse will agree upon and enjoy. I get a list of all the restaurants in the city, determine the distance to each, review all the menu options and the price of each option, check their Yelp reviews, and decide how to score each item of information, then finally rank their composite scores. Then I start making phone calls at 6:30 p.m. for what was supposed to be a 6:00 p.m. reservation. In this example the opportunity, to get a 6:00 reservation and to please my wife, has passed. I have failed. This situation can happen in our personal lives and in our professional – business operations.

There are millions of books written by first time authors that never get published because once written they are proofed and edited for years or even decades. The author will not publish until the book is perfect. The problem is that no book, no decision. can ever be perfect. In business we all know that data and analytics are the key factors in making successful decisions. But how much data is necessary and when do you have enough. Also every day there is new data to digest. When do you reach the point of diminishing returns, especially when you need to react today.

The process of choosing an investment is particularly prone to paralysis by analysis. It's easy to get bogged down in an analysis of many options until it becomes impossible to choose one. This inaction can lead to missed opportunities.

So let’s befriend and learn from those who will help us become who we want to be, remain persistent and diligent has we work towards our worthy goals, and finally make decisions that are required promptly when immediate action is necessary, remembering that no decisions are final, and adjustments can always be made.

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