People fail, first and foremost, because failure is promoted in our society as the norm and success as the exception. We have been made to believe that the successful are 'others' that were just plain lucky, more intelligent, better connected, got that special break or just in the right place at the right time.
The reality is that success and failure, wealth and poverty, the happy and the unhappy come from all walks of life. Those that are successful at their physical condition, finances, business, marriage or whatever you can imagine share common practices and those that fail do as well. This topic has been discussed for thousands of years with people blaming everything from self esteem to government subsidies, and even mommy and daddy. However each of these "wrong why's" can be dispelled by examples of those that did make it despite those very issues.
I have been intrigued by success for over 40 years and spent as long studying it. Here is what I have observed to be the top five reasons people fail:
1) Failure is promoted as the norm and success the exception. From our family ties to education to the daily dissemination by the media, the overwhelming message is that success is scarce, limited to the privileged, the lucky, and always someone else. But interview any of those people that have made it and they will tell you that is not the case. The reality is each of us has been instilled with enormous potential, intelligence and unique gifts that are never utilized. There was a time when people from all races came to this country with the belief, "if I only work hard enough I can succeed" that no longer exist in our culture today.
2) Individuals underestimate the amount of action(s) necessary to accomplish what they want. New businesses often run out of cash because they underestimated the number of obstacles, situations, resistance, time and energy that would be necessary to obtain what the company's goals and then became disillusioned and/or broke. In this age of 'instant everything' it appears more and more prevalent that people underestimate the amount of effort necessary to accomplish any worthy goal. All of this is compounded by entitlement programs, bail outs, free credit, rewards provided with no exchange and the the obsession with get rich quick. Success in the real world regardless of your politics requires massive amounts of action followed by consistent and more massive actions. My new book, "You're Either First or You're Last", which by the way is tracking sales numbers that will place it on the NY Times Best Seller List, covers this topic in detail.
3) Lack the right degree of motivation/desire to make your goals a reality. Look, like my daddy told me, "if you run out of gas, you ain't going to make your destination." Success requires a particular 'gas', called motivation. Most people lack the proper amounts and then believe they lack the ability to produce more motivation on their own accord. Walking on fire, with my friend, Tony Robbins will give you an immediate pump but you must learn the skill of creating, managing and regenerating motivation at will especially through failures. There are exact strategies that I have practiced to get me through hundreds of failures over the last 20 years. One simple example, my wife and I meet daily to discuss our life's goals, (also done amongst my company's staff). This is an exercise I look forward to doing daily, refocusing me, my wife and my staff on the future we desire to create. This simple drill offsets the failures and refuels our interest in the destiny we desire to create.
4) You are surrounded by mediocre influences. Take your five closest friends/associates, add up what each of them have accomplished and divide by 5, and you will find yourself right amongst them. The same drill can be done with physical goals, quality of your marriage, spirituality, money and anything else you can imagine. People are experiencing failure unnecessarily because they surround themselves with others that have settled for mediocrity and believe failure to be commonplace. Just like secondhand smoke can cause cancer, surrounding yourself with friends, relatives, and associates that are failing in any area of life will have direct negative repercussions on your life.
5) Lack confidence and motivation. This is NOT a self-esteem issue. Confidence, motivation and self worth are the products of winning in life. I suffered much of my life from what others labeled a self-esteem issue and the only thing that has handled it is making sure I win more often than I fail in those areas of my life where I suffered the low self esteem. Self confidence requires, not gimmicks, but consistent training, education and daily coaching that actually increases a person's sense of belief in their abilities to create success. The most successful people and organizations train, educate, practice, drill, rehearse, provide feedback and coach as a priority and a ritual.
For years I have worked on creating solution to these issues and recently produced a virtual online technology that allows for anyone on any budget to access training, motivation and solutions in real time to give them every chance at their inherent right to win in life. Literally 24 hours a day, 365 days a year a person can consult 'best practices' for those situations that are causing them to not succeed. Click here for free demonstration. Get the five items above handled, and make #5 a ritual and I assure you will discover that winning in life is your right and is available to anyone that is willing to work for it!
Grant Cardone, Author, International Speaker and Founder of Virtual Sales Training