Why People Fail

The Top 5 Reasons Most People Fail at Achieving Their Goals

Reason #1: People don’t take action. OK, this sounds obvious. Surely we all know that we have to take action in order to get somewhere. Even so, you would not believe how many people I talk with who sit there and wonder why their life doesn’t go the way they want it. (I know this b/c I’ve been there.) The thing is that they often don’t know what action to take, OR, they aren’t being honest with themselves about whether they really are taking action.

Reason #2: People are afraid. They might be afraid of failure, or of success. And sometimes they are afraid of both. A bit of a catch-22, wouldn’t you say?

Reason #3: People have poor internal programming. Think of yourself like a computer – whatever you put in affects what you get out. As you set goals and think about achieving them and the actions required to achieve them, what thoughts are you “putting in”? What is the internal dialogue you have running? What do you imagine will happen?

Reason #4: People’s environments don’t make success automatic. Most of us have been taught to use willpower to get ourselves to do what needs to be done. While that can work short term, it is also draining and doesn’t usually sustain the change or action. Instead, think about designing your environments to get you to do what you know/think you ought to be doing.

Reason #5: People give up too early. Yep, while most of us like to think of ourselves as persistent, the truth is most of us give up just before we’re about to have a breakthrough. We let discouragement and obstacles become barriers, rather than using them as launching pads for the next approach.