Good things often happen in threes and here is the last in this saga from “Shift Happens” the 11 step personal inventory, to “Influence your World: How to take command in 10 steps (or less)” to now the “Introspection: How to overcome yourself!”

“Man conquers the world by conquering himself” -Zeno of Citium

There is nothing more harming to personal growth and success than our “self” the desires we hold or lack thereof, the wishes we make and the hopes and dreams we build in our heads.

As you read on, I suggest you focus and think of what you really want to achieve. Think of what success looks like for you: is it being a better leader and performance driver? or is it the accumulation of wealth? is it being a more peaceful parent, or perhaps even being more mindful and healthy?

Success is not just related to how much money you accumulate and so I take a look at these causes of failure, and invite you to introspect. Overcome these causes of failure and you are overcoming your “self” and get ready for an improved you… Here’s Good News: You Can Make it!

1.     Lack of enthusiasm:

Follow your passion and fulfill your dreams is great advice and I believe, that it is only one side of the equation. The other side is working hard to enable you to “play hard”, either way if you wake up each morning feeling like you are dragging yourself to work, I would advise you review your priorities. Your job is a means to an end, and no task will be done well absent the enthusiasm that fuels it.

Believe in what you can accomplish. Re-wire your brain to see the positive aspects of your journey. Focus on the end result and work towards it with enthusiasm. Start to build a culture of enjoying the process that will get you the results. Churchill established that success is the capacity to move from one failure to the next without loosing enthusiasm. Your success is imminent when you work with passion and enthusiasm.

2.     Intolerance:

If you are in a leadership position then this may be one of your major pitfalls. Do you find yourself disagreeing with your teams on principles? Do you feel that people are not meeting your expectations? If it is the case, I believe that you need to reconsider your point of view as it may only mean that you are not open to other people’s personalities, characters and ways of life. Diversity today is not just about race, gender or religion but rather layers of characteristics and the best leaders are those who can identify differences in their teams and adapt accordingly. 

3.     Intemperance:

No doubt you know that the key is moderation. Any thing overdone becomes a vice. To be successful you must learn control. Overindulgence in eating, drinking, sex, drugs… are all distraction from your main cause. Be cautious and honest with yourself and get in the driver’s seat. Think of what you want to accomplish and keep that goal in mind and work towards it without distractions. Binge watching shows from 8 pm to 3 am? Imagine all you can accomplish if you go to bed early and rise to start working on that dream project you have lying around in the back of your mind. Set a routine where fun is included to help build your resilience and recharge your battery rather than contribute to draining it.  

4.     Inability to cooperate with others:

I have personally been a victim of this on both ends. I have been in situations where I worked with people who weren’t set up for teamwork and have also been on the end where I couldn’t collaborate with others. There is no one size fits all solution for this obstacle. What you need to keep in mind is that in order for you to get ahead you must be able to work with others and more importantly learn how to leverage other people to work with you. Influencing people in today’s world has a direct impact on your potential for growth. If things aren’t going your way; take control and responsibility and look at yourself before blaming others  

5.     Possession of power that was not acquired through self-effort:

Achievement through self-effort is one of the greatest intrinsic motivators. Coming across the family fortune doesn’t mean you are successful. Often generations that take over positions that they didn’t earn, end up miss leading. Having said that, such an inheritance could also be a great opportunity to rise to the occasion, to learn and lead with empathy and enthusiasm. 

6.     Intentional dishonesty:

There are no two ways of looking at this and unfortunately many feel the need to be mischievous, deceptive and manipulative to get ahead. You may call me naïve but I believe that honesty is always the best policy. Transparency is crucial and extremely beneficial when you are transparent with yourself.

7.     Egotism and Vanity:

If you're run by, there will be little room for you to grow, given that you won’t be able to see your flaws and what is required for your development. Similarly, vanity will fog your vision of the reality. Take a step back and look objectively at your “self”

8.    Guessing instead of thinking:

I have seen, very often, people asking for others opinions and guiding their decisions based on them. To succeed you must acquire facts and not opinions to act. Remove the guessing out of the game and focus on facts. Opinions can help give you options to consider while making a decision. I suggest you investigate how you make decisions and what you base your actions on.

9.    Lack of Capital:

Directly related to the previous article point ten. Without capital you will be tied back and unable to break free of “corporate tyranny”. If you want to be an entrepreneur and develop your own business, accumulating capital is fundamental. If your overindulgence is under control, then you will certainly be able to save and/or invest. Allocate your money, create a “future entrepreneur” account that will help towards starting your side hustle

10. Other causes of pain:

Consider this the joker card that allows you to identify any other element that may have caused your failure in the past.

Take the time to study and learn from it; avoid it and open up room for your growth.

Final Thoughts, I urge you to go through the all the 3 blog pieces* dealing with causes of failure and solicit the help of close friends and colleagues to keep you honest in your internal analysis. Read, understand and work on every point to help you grow to your potential.

Remember that growth and success are relative and that in all cases if you are comfortable where you are then maybe it’s time to stretch yourself. On the other hand if you find your self in a position where you are stretched and every day scares you and makes you wonder what you are doing? then you are surely on the way to let the magic happen… Here’s Good News: You Can Make It! 

Written by Tarek Azmi. Founder of Here’s Good News, a training and development company dedicated to your personal and professional growth, offering learning modules, coaching sessions and personal training.

Like this blog? Share and Sign-up at www.heresgoodnews.com and you will never miss a post. Fill in your details in the “get in touch” tab and receive a courtesy call to start building your dreams and achieving your goals and Here’s Good News: You Can Make It! ____

Notes: 

• Napoleon Hill, "Think and Grow Rich", "Organised Planning", The Ralston Society, 1937, Ch. 7. 

• Zeno of Citium, “Man conquers the world by conquering himself”, founder of the Stoic School of Philosophy, Athens, 300 B.C

• "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill. 

• Three Blog articles: the Trilogy starts with “Shift Happens: an 11 step personal inventory” and continues with part 2 “Influence your World: How to take control in 10 steps or less” and ends with this Part 3 “Introspection: How to overcome yourself”

• Image credit to Zachary Nelson, @zacharynelson, unsplash.com