It is my belief that most people strive to succeed in their endeavors. It is my belief those who invest not only time and money into their career but also invest their life goals in succeeding, do not go into any career change with the intention of failure.
With the above in mind the question I pose is why do people fail? I have researched, contemplated and inquired about this dilemma and the following information is consistently brought forward.
Procrastination is one of the consistent reasons for not accomplishing the necessary tasks toward the end result of success. It is easier to put off today what should have been done yesterday. Instead of immediately doing the task necessary to meet a goal or timeline, something else less stressful takes its place. Generally the task people put off is the one that would give them the highest sense of accomplishment when it is completed. For example, contacting clients or vendors you have not heard from in a long while and specifically asking for their referral business would bring in revenue in the near future. On another level when you clean out the garage, attic, your closet, every time you drive or walk into that area you have a sense of orderliness and personal accomplishment.
Set backs sometime keep people from going forward to accomplish their plans and dreams. Setbacks are part of life. Setbacks allow us to appreciate our journey to our successes. Instead of negative self talk about why you did not win or why you can not budget, or why you can not be the career leader you dream of being, tell yourself what you learned from this current setback. Learning from setbacks allow us to grow in strength, determination and intelligence.
Connecting the dots backwards to contemplate a failure in business, a task, or career can often be that the individual took on too many tasks at one time. Successfully accomplishing the "juggling of one ball" before taking on the additional challenge of "multiple juggling" is the researcher's answer to a successful string of accomplishments. We often congratulate ourselves on "multi-tasking" when in fact we are a "Jack of all trades and Master of none". What makes a team successful is what one team member excels at another member of the team may dislike. Through delegation the team is maximizing the expertise of the team. Procrastination is less present since all team members participate in what they do best and have to report back to the team as to their individual results. This increases everyone's opportunities for successful outcomes.
Personal accountability is not the least point in failure. It is the foremost reason people do not achieve the successes they dream of living. Most come into a new challenge with excitement to do the best they can. Once the continuous familiarity of the challenge gets routine the personal bar of excellence gets rusty. The edge of team play, good manners, determination to put one's best foot forward when interfacing with others becomes less and less important and not demonstrated as it should be. One day your plan of success has turned into a bad day at the office. Then it becomes a dream that just never materialized. Connect the dots backwards again to see the ultimate end to your plan of success. You probably did not have a plan to disappoint yourself, supervisor, and spouse. It just happened over time. There is never a good time to "not be at your best". Each day must be concise, clear and filled with your personal convictions to be an asset to your clients, team members and supervisor.
Demonstrating confidence in yourself is accomplished by helping others, not procrastinating, by taking personal reflection on set-backs, by encouraging yourself to always be the quiet strength of determination as you set your plans, goals, dreams and live your successes.
