“It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default.” – J. K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling’s quote is such a powerful quote. It pretty much summarizes the title of this post.
There are far more reasons people fail, but I will list 10 reasons I have encountered in my own life.
I hope that someone can relate to this and make the same changes in their lives.
#1 Reason We Fail – FALSE IDENTITY
The human mind is far more powerful than they think.
We are not born with an identity.
Yes, we are born into a particular religion, into a specific family, as a specific gender, and you get the idea.
But, identities like “I am not good enough,” “I am not smart,” or “I am ugly” are identities we have adopted through our interactions with our environments.
If our parents or anyone in authority told you as growing up, “You are not smart,’ and if you accepted that idea, then that became your reality.
Of course, as kids, we did not control what we accepted or what we did not.
We can say that the present life you have is the canvas and the painting on it is the total of all the beliefs you accumulated over the years.
If you do not like the painting you have painted, then create a new one.
Start creating a new identity for yourself.
Remember, it is not easy to change an old identity, just like changing an old habit.
The minute you try to affirm something positive to yourself, there will be resistance.
However, affirmation is a good starting point to change your current reality.
#2 Reason We Fail – NEVER BEGINNING
Your ideas are worthless if you do not act upon them.
We wait around waiting for that “perfect moment.” Waiting for the thunder in the sky, for the lighting to strike, and voice echoing through the sky telling us, “Hey, the perfect moment for you to begin has arrived. You may begin now.”
It has taken me years to be where I am right now. I recently found my journal where I listed my dreams and goals, but I never acted upon them.
It is sad to see how many years we lose just wishing and hoping because we never begin.
We never take that first step towards our goal.
We go through life as we have 1000 years remaining.
If we do not begin for ourselves, then we have the duty as human beings to do it for others.
Who knows the knowledge, the product, or the skills you want to share with the world may benefit people in a way you never thought possible.
How can we expect anything in return if we do not put in the effort?
We do not expect heat without fire
We do not expect our car to turn on without turning it on.
Then how can we expect to succeed without ever beginning?
#3 Reason We Fail – LACK OF SELF – DISCIPLINE
Once we begin, we must maintain self-discipline day in and day out.
It is easy to go to things we find comforting when going gets hard.
For me, it was napping!
I was like a cat! I thought if I shut my eyes, then the problem would disappear.
But guess what?
It made the matter worse.
Day after day, lack of discipline put a dent in my self-esteem and self-worth.
Understand this fact, that it takes a whole lot of self-discipline when you begin working towards your goal.
Heck, if it were easy, every person be, do, and have what they desire.
When you begin the journey, have a mental attitude as if you have paid an academy a high amount of your hard-earned money. If you do not accomplish the goal, the academy will kick you out and not refund your hard-earned money.
For example, every time I desire to take a nap or watch TV for countless hours, I imagine myself as a nursing student and how disciplined and focused I was.
I did not want to fail when I was a nursing student because the university that I went to kicked the student out of the university if they failed two semesters.
I bring that image inside my head and get back to working towards my goal.
It is pretty lame to get kicked out of life before accomplishing my dreams and goals.
Do not underestimate what it will take to make a specific goal a reality. It takes hard work and discipline.
If we say to ourselves, “this sounds hard. Why go through all of this?”
Well, it is not the question of hard or easy. It is a question of if you are currently happy in your life.
#4 Reason Why We Fail – WE ARE LAZY
If we do not want to put serious hours into attaining our goals, we are lazy. Simple!
If somebody says, “I want to start walking to lose weight but do not have time.”
That is just pure laziness.
We can afford to take 30 minutes out of our day to go for a walk.
Sometimes working towards our goal does not require any physical work. It may just be that you need to acquire specific skills and knowledge to attain your goal.
This reason goes hand in hand with the previous reason mentioned above.
Just because we lack self-discipline, we become lazy.
We might sit here watching re-runs of our favorite show on Netflix while someone else is working towards the same goal as yours.
They will end up reaching their goals because they are not lazy.
#5 Reason We Fail – DISTRACTED BY “SHINY NEW OBJECT”
It is so easy to get distracted by the next new idea on the internet.
We start with a particular road map inside our heads when we begin our journey.
I have certainly been guilty of this, and I had to train my mind to stay focused on what I had initially intended to work upon and not get distracted by a different idea.
For example, if you are learning to start a YouTube channel, stay focused on just that.
If YouTube suggests a particular YouTube video on “How to earn $80,000/month without a YouTube channel,” then please do not click on it!
You will end up going into a deep hole.
Once you watch this video, YouTube will suggest similar videos you just watched (which you were not supposed to watch anyway).
Now guess what?
Instead of using the resources for our intended purposes, we got carried away with our emotions on earning $80,000/month without a YouTube channel.
Yes, there may be different legal ways to earn $80,000/month, but even that will require all of the things mentioned above – beginning, self-discipline, determination, and of course, skills and knowledge.
#6 Reason We Fail – EXPECTING TOO MUCH TOO QUICKLY
Any change takes time, but in this fast-paced world, we expect instant gratification.
Whether it be a reply to our texts, reply to our emails, losing five pounds, growing hair, or whatever. We want it, and we want it right now!!
For example, some videos on YouTube have over million views, with titles such as, “How I lost 10 pounds in a week!”
Some of us may click that video out of curiosity, but some believe it is possible to lose 10 pounds in a week.
I am digressing here but losing that much weight in a week is not healthy—especially nowadays, even young audiences watching YouTube videos on such topics.
Now back to our discussion.
I heard this quote somewhere, “There is a season to sow, and there is a season to reap. You cannot do both in the same season.”
Pregnancy lasts nine months.
An oak tree takes 30-40 years to grow from an acorn.
It takes around 8 and 18 months when a baby will take his first step.
Then how can we be unfair to ourselves and set ourselves for failure by expecting too much in too little time?
Isn’t that unfair?
#7 Reason We Fail – RESIST CHANGE
It is natural for human beings to resist change because change is unknown and scary.
It feels nice to stay in a comfort zone, especially if we have worked towards something for such a long time.
I know someone in life who resists installing an app on the phone. They resist change even though these changes could make their life easier.
Be open to other people’s ideas and advice. That does not mean you have to accept their ideas.
Maybe you will look at your problem from a different angle. There are many perspectives in this world, and you can choose which one you look at.
Anything in the universe keeps changing. It would be silly of us to think that we do not change.
One good thing about change is that there is not only one route.
Of all the ideas available, you will have to choose how to become the best version of yourself.
Failing the first couple of times might seem hard, and as a reason for us to quit, hang in there. It is a fantastic thing.
Failing helps you realize what you did wrong and significantly change your mistakes to make yourself have tremendous success.
#8 Reason We Fail – TRYING TO COMPETE INSTEAD OF DOMINATING
Most of us don’t fail because there is lots of competition.
We fail because we do not think outside the box.
Before Uber came around, we knew only about taxis.
Uber did not try to compete. Instead, it filled in the specific needs in the market that the taxis did not meet.
How about DoorDash and other similar services?
DoorDash filled the shortage of delivery drivers for small business owners.
There isn’t a lack of abundance around us. If that were the case, the human race would not have come so far.
When we see so many influencers on social media, we tend to sink that the market is saturated, and there is no room for us to begin.
There is always a possibility to have a “light bulb” moment if we effort to sit down and brainstorm for ideas.
#9 Reason We Fail – FEAR OF FAILURE
We do not fear failure as much as we fear success.
We fear failure because we do not want to invest much time and fail.
My question is, how does one know for sure he will fail?
Look at it this way. We will never know we could have succeeded if we do not take action because of fear of failure.
Some of us fear success.
We fear all the responsibilities that come with success.
We fear that we will need to work even harder if we become successful.
But these are all ifs and buts of our mind.
We have not even taken any action, but we create fear inside our heads.
Fear is nothing more than False Evidence Appearing Real.
We must keep our fear aside and work towards our goal as if we are sure there is no room for failure.
#10 Reason We Fail – PERSISTENCE
Persistence is probably one of the biggest reasons we fail.
We do not stick to our goals long enough.
We are not stupid, but we are ignorant to realize that success takes time.
Just like the examples of pregnancy, an oak tree, and a child first step I mentioned above, everything has its due date.
For example, we may set a goal to lose weight, but we quit before reaching our desired weight.
Why?
It is not because we lack time to exercise or good judgment when it comes to food, but because we do not stick to our goal long enough.
That is why only a few percentages of the world’s population are successful.
Can you imagine how many of us would be successful if we stick to our goal until it comes to fruition?
Conclusion
It is easy to fail, especially if we do not know the reasons behind our failure.
There may be different reasons for failure for everyone. However, I have read in books over the years and have noticed specific reasons we fail.
Once we eradicate reasons for failure, then success is inevitable.
