Perhaps, you have put in a lot of effort to succeed in life but nothing has worked so far. No matter how hard you try, you find that you are not just where you want to be. I know how it feels because I have been there too. But until I took a step back and evaluated some aspects of my life that could be hindering my success, nothing changed.
There are several reasons why people fail in life and not succeed. From being afraid to take risks, holding on to the past to always thinking negatively, these factors can hold you back in your bid to achieve success.
While success has many routes, failure often has just one. As such, in order to improve, it is easier and more result-oriented to focus on why you are failing. There are several reasons why a person may be failing in life.
Keep on reading to find out.
Why Am I Not Successful In My Life?
Before knowing why you may be finding it difficult to achieve success in your life, you must know what success means. Success is a state a person finds themselves in when they have achieved a desired goal or objective.
It is the opposite of failure. For a clearer understanding, success is the fulfillment of set out objectives that are favorable to the person concerned. True success is living a fulfilled and advanced life that you created for yourself.
Just so you know, success is widely desired and is the reason why people continue to attempt things. But it is simply not enough to desire success. This is why a lot of people fail – they think by merely wanting to succeed, they can make something of their lives.
One reason you might be finding it difficult to be successful could be because you lack vision. Perhaps you think that by acquiring material wealth, you can become successful.
But success isn’t all about riches. To be successful, you must have a clear vision as well as carefully thought out means to achieve it. You must be focused if you are going to overcome the numerous challenges you will definitely face.
Success, however, is subjective and differs from one person to another. That is to say, what I consider a successful life might not be so to the next person. Not understanding this simple truth can make success an unreachable attainment.
A person sets himself for failure when they refuse to try new things every day. You might be unsuccessful because you are afraid of conquering your fears and learning to carefully select which battles to fight.
You might be unsuccessful because you find it difficult to understand who you really are and are unable to accept love and give it. Success is about the choices you make and also about taking care of your needs and practicing self-love. It is all about doing your best always, even when it does not lead to the desired result.
You are the only one who can define success as it relates to your life and this is very important. It depends on what you think prosperity is and what that means to you.
It is however important that you have an idea of what a successful life will look like for you. This will guide you in your journey towards achieving success. Your picture of success will serve as a road map that you can focus on as you make your way there.
Why Do I Fail In Everything I Do?
Sometimes life can get so hard and frustrating that you wonder if you were born to be a failure. However, the first mistake you would be making is defining failure by riches. Failing has nothing to do with being poor or not having material wealth.
An affluent person can fail in their lives, as can famous and influential people. By that reasoning, in fact, a person can have nothing and still live a very fulfilled and successful life.
Failing can also be isolated. For example, a person can fail in a particular aspect of their life, maybe their marriage or personal relationships, but be successful or accomplished in another part of their life, like their career or business endeavors. Such a person may have issues with balancing out each aspect of their life.
You might be failing in life because you let your difficulties and challenges permanently subject you to an undesired life and existence. You become a failure when you surrender to the negative influences that are meant to keep you down.
Failing in a particular aspect of life does not automatically make you a failure. As long as you continue to strive to achieve your goals concerning that aspect, you are not a failure.
As long as a person still has breath, there is always hope for success. Even when they have given up on their dreams and are living an unhappy, deeply frustrated, and unfulfilled life; even when this is the case, they can still turn their life around for the better. They can pick up their shattered dreams, mend them and continue on their quest of fulfilling them.
What Are The Reasons For Failure?
Below are fifteen overlooked reasons why people fail or are not successful in life
1. They Are Not Goal-Oriented
People who lose sight of their goals, objectives, and values usually run the risk of failing in life.
This is because they unknowingly do things that are harmful or dangerous to their dreams and goals. Because they are not focused on their goals or do not know what those are, they can easily get distracted and lose sight of the bigger picture.
The first thing you must do as someone who is looking to be a success in life is to be focused on your goals. This will make you disciplined and more determined to achieve your desired goals.
Being goal-oriented can help you prioritize your values so that you do not waste your time doing things that seem like hard work but are not in line with your goals. Never forget that being hard at work is not the same as being productive.
Practice saying your goals often so you do not lose sight of them. You can write them down on paper, have that paper framed and hang it in a special spot where you can always see it.
This will also help you discover the things you are indulging in that are not helping you succeed in life or that are not in line with your goals. More like a Life Compass and we have created helpful and easy products like Goal Chaser to help you effectively track your goals and conquer each one of your routines and habits.
More importantly, it will help you make solid plans to achieve your goals and stay on track with your plans. With your goals in focus, you can also track your progress as it concerns your goals and objectives.
It also makes your life purpose clearer and helps you make informed predictions about your future which will reduce the crises and uncertainty many people face when they have no idea about their purpose in life.
2. They Take Their Time For Granted
To be successful in life, you must have value for your time. Every single second of every single day is important and must be utilized accordingly.
To succeed, you cannot be one who whiles away their time or spends it doing nothing worthwhile. You have to be more intentional about how you spend your time, keeping in mind that it matters.
If you have a problem with making good use of your time, you should learn proper time management. Many years ago, I struggled with using my time properly – even when I planned to do something at a particular time, I found that I could not keep to time.
By using time management strategies like prioritizing, scheduling, goal setting, and multitasking, I was able to spend my time more smartly and waste less time.
You should also learn to choose – wisely – what engagements and tasks you commit to, especially taking your time into account. Yes, it is good to challenge yourself and push your limits but you should understand what your body can do. You should also learn how to say no if something is not convenient.
Remember, part of being successful is picking the battles you fight and doing your very best in whatever you put your hand to. By asking yourself if you can do a perfect job within the allotted time, you can make a wise decision about whether to take on a task or not.
Also very important is to train yourself not to procrastinate. Procrastination is the thief of time, as English writer Edward Young so perfectly put it. It does no one any good to continually put off doing something. Time management can also help with procrastination but it all depends on you and if you are willing to become the success you want to be.
3. They Always Have Excuses
You can always tell if someone will succeed or fail in life by whether they give excuses or not. Excuses are for failures and there is no gainsaying that. Unsuccessful people always have something to say about why they could not achieve or do something.
In many cases, in fact, these excuses are deliberate even as the task is being assigned to them. They spend more time making an argument for why something cannot be done, instead of looking for ways to get it done.
Successful people, on the other hand, have learned how not to give excuses. When they are faced with a task that seems rather impossible, they do not spend their time looking at the reasons why it cannot be accomplished; instead, they forge on and seek for the possibilities that are always there.
The truth is that for everything that was invented today; for everything that exists today, there were many logical reasons why it could not have been. Successful people look beyond the logical reasons why something is impossible and find the hidden possibilities, however difficult and next to impossible it might seem.
4. They Limit Themselves
If your goal is to be successful in life, you must ensure that you do not place a limit on what you can do. People who are unsuccessful in life have a habit of delimiting what they can do.
Such restrictions they place on themselves have adverse effects on their abilities and make them underachievers. Worse still, it makes them accept these self-imposed limitations and live within their restrictions.
Never give in to the idea that you have a defined number of skills that cannot be updated or added upon. If you already believe such, get rid of that mentality, trust me, it will not help you become a success in life. Always make efforts to improve whatever you know; never remain stagnant.
The world as we know it today is a fast-moving place and unless you continually update your knowledge and skills, it will render you irrelevant, sooner rather than later.
Take online classes, acquire new skills and techniques, learn a new language, dabble into programming; do everything within your power to always better yourself. There is nothing impossible to you unless you believe so.
5. They Do Not Give Their All
Unsuccessful people never give their best, no matter what the task is. They blame their poor or average performance on their inconsiderate employer, non-conducive work environment, terrible schedules, and what have you.
Like the proverbial workman who blames his tools, they always have an excuse for why their output is less than standard. Regardless of how unfavorable or unlikeable a job might be, you must bring your all to the table.
Successful people do not do mediocre tasks – they work extremely hard to succeed at everything irrespective of if they like the circumstances surrounding the work. This prepares them for future success.
Yes, the circumstance under which a task is performed greatly affects its quality but that should not be an excuse to do a poor job. Successful people always find a way around challenges.
If you are being choked with a lot of work, prioritize them and allot time to each based on that. Whatever the challenge may be, do not fold your arm and let your efforts go down because it is never impossible to do a good job and you must know that.
6. They Are Afraid Of Facing Challenges
Being afraid of facing challenges is one of the reasons why people fail in life. Whatever the opposition may be, be it internal or external adversity, it is advisable – if you wish to succeed in life – you have to face them head-on without fear. Know that facing challenges and oppositions makes you stronger and more prepared for what is to come.
It is like a video game where there are levels and to get to a new level, you have to meet and defeat adversity. See challenges just like that – they are there to put you on another level.
How else, if not by facing challenges, can you know if you are strong, bold, or wise enough; how else will you know if you are ready for what is next? When you are faced with challenges and adversities, never give up or give in.
The successful man or woman is forged from the embers of their adversities. Jump at every opportunity to challenge yourself and test your abilities; never back down from a fight. For every challenge you face, give your very best and nothing less.
And do not be ashamed or dismayed if you do not come out victorious – you faced your adversities and that is something to be proud of. Learn from the defeat and having done so, be quick to ask for a rematch.
7. They Do Not Know How To Treat Others
Unsuccessful people can come off as very rude and discourteous. Sometimes, they are downright arrogant. People who fail in life hardly appreciate the value of treating people well, this is especially worse when they think these people do not readily have anything to offer them. They likewise have a problem with appreciating others for the little things they do.
People who succeed in life understand the value of giving people due respect just because. There is a strategic angle to being respectful to everyone quite alright – I mean, you never can tell where you will meet someone in the future – but that aside, treating people well is beneficial to your health and general wellbeing.
Remember, the energy you give to the Universe always has a way of coming back to you. Arrogance and other negative feelings have a way of poisoning a person’s productive spirit.
There is a lot more a person can do without being encumbered with such toxic emotions. Besides, respectful and humble people are generally more liked by others and are also more likely to gain favors.
8. They Lack Passion
Unsuccessful people cannot be bothered to be passionate about anything. Passion has a way of helping people succeed. It gives people a natural desire to want to accomplish things and get better, however hard it may look.
Passion is an exclusively human feeling; it is that intense feeling of affection and certainty that whatever is being set upon can and should be achieved.
It is important, as someone who is looking to be successful, that you find what you care about and work towards doing something about it. Do not be one of those people who are indifferent about everything.
Have that unreasonable passion for something and let it drive you. Passion is necessary for the survival of your dreams and goals because there are a lot of things that are going to try to crush your spirit and your desire to go on.
I have found that without passion, it will be impossible for me to do half the things I do, as well as I do them. Money has never served as a good reinforcement for me – once I do not care about something, money, no matter the amount, is not enough to get me to work.
9. They Do Not Take Action
It is not enough to have a great big idea. You have to work to bring it about otherwise it is just like every other great idea nobody knows of because nothing was done about it.
Refuse to daydream about your idea and wonder if it can really come to pass – find out by trying to do something about it.
You do not need anything more than what you have to bring your ideas to fruition.
Do not give up simply because you do not have the money, the skill, or the patience to get something done. Whatever you think you require can be attracted with what you already have. Just take the first step and ensure it comes to life.
If you wish to open a floral shop, for example, instead of wondering where the funding will come from, spend some time in floral shops. Learn about flowers and flower arrangements. Make friends with other entrepreneurs in the floral business.
Question and seek advice from them about how to go about the whole thing. In the end, you will be brimming with enough inspiration; your energy will bring the funding you require if everything else fails.
10. They Are Unfocused
If you want to succeed in life, your mind cannot be everywhere and anywhere. Do not try to do ten things at once, you cannot. You have to focus on achieving them one after the other.
Some of us have very lofty dreams of doing a million and one things and that is very good but you must prioritize and start from what is most important to you.
Focus is a value that must be learned if you wish to make something of yourself in this life. It might seem difficult, especially when you are excited and passionate about these things. Splitting your focus however will make you do worse or give a poor performance in everything you are involved with.
It also involves temporarily limiting yourself to achieve a particular dream. It involves pooling every resource you have towards one thing at a time to create the very best results.
Focusing means sticking to something till the end. Unsuccessful people can be all over the place. Today, they are looking to build a rocket and when that does not go well, they go into pottery and when that fails, they try banking.
But most of their endeavors fail because they are not giving it their best; they are holding back for the next thing they are going to try.
11. They Are Unorganised
Organization is very crucial to the success of any endeavor. Anything that is not organized is disorganized. And whatever you sow is what you will reap. You cannot make a scattered effort and expect to get a whole result.
You must therefore be organized in everything you put your hands to. For one thing, it makes the tasks before us easier to accomplish.
You must learn organizational skills and be more intentional about adopting them in your work environment.
If you are working with a team, organizational skills will help each member do their best work without interfering with the goals of the team as a whole. It will keep you focused and help you utilize your time and energy effectively and efficiently so that you achieve your result with no hassle.
12. They Let Their Fears Take Over
Everyone has something they are afraid of. However, letting it get the better of you is not a very wise move. Successful people learn to take charge of their fears and forge on without looking back.
If you let it, your fear can look like an insurmountable mountain and will hinder you from ever getting anything done. Never let that happen to you, remain strong and unbeaten.
Understand that even though you may fail once in a while, it does not define you as a person and it certainly does not spell doom for your progress.
Failing is a natural part of the process of achieving success so there is no need to ever fear it. The loss and defeat might hurt a lot but you can regain everything if you get up, dust yourself down and continue on your way.
Have the mentality that nothing can stop you, yes, they will try but it will only make you stronger and more resilient. If that kind of mindset does not make you invincible, nothing else will. What you think about yourself is what matters, so forget about everything else – the distractions, the things telling you that you cannot do it; just forget it all.
13. They Are Afraid Of Taking Risks
Do be afraid to take risks and do daring things. Push yourself and leave your comfort zone, do not play it too safe. Unsuccessful people waste life’s opportunity by second-guessing themselves too much.
Once an opportunity arises, they look for things to discourage them. They look for logical reasons why it will not work and the ones that say it will. Be bold and daring.
Never cave into the thoughts of impossibilities and failure that lurk around opportunities, grab them without second thoughts. Learn to follow your guts; it is there for a reason.
Besides, if you do not take chances, you may never learn what works for you and what does not. Remember, you need life experience, especially when you are walking through a path strange to you – there is only so much you can learn from others.
14. They Can’t Move On From Their Past
Unsuccessful people are fixated with the past. They cannot get past the failures and mistakes they made before. The best you can do with the past is learn from it, anything else is unhealthy and unhelpful.
You must learn to forgive yourself and others for past issues because if you are focused on the past, you can never move towards your future. You will remain in a stagnant place and create an even worse present.
Be thankful for your past and all it had to offer. Take the lessons it taught you and never repeat those mistakes. Doing this will make you a far richer human being.
There is no successful person who does not have one or two things in the past that they are not proud of, but they do not allow these to dictate how they react in the present or what their future will be like, for that matter.
15. They Lack Positive Thinking
Never underestimate what positive thinking can do in your life. A person can steer the direction of their life from a terrible position to a place of peace and success simply by the thoughts they let in.
This is because what we think determines, to a great extent, what we do and how we react to things around us. Positive thinking invites positive forces into our lives in just the same way negativity attracts negative forces, so be very careful what you let stay in your head.
Always remain optimistic, see only the good in people and circumstances. Believe, even when things seem to be going south, that they will look up for you.
Optimistic people are, by far, more creative and inventive because they believe everything is possible for them. They also lead much healthier lives which further impacts their ability to be productive and successful in all that they do.
What Does Failure Do To A Person?
Every one of us has seen a sword, perhaps not in person, but we can appreciate its fierce beauty and sharpness. Well, every sword, before it becomes that beauty we see, is first forged in fire.
It is put in the fire until it turns red-hot after which it is hammered into the thin, edgy, and wonderful blade we admire. Just like that blade, a person has to go through tough times to emerge admirable and beautiful.
Failure has its advantages. Besides, it is impossible to be a true success without failing along the way.
As long as you are daring and bold, you will experience a hiccup or two in the form of failure but do not let it crush your spirit. Instead, lean into its strength and come back even stronger and more determined than before.
Failure helps you get better at whatever you are doing. Your experiences teach you better than any teacher can. It helps you dig deeper and find out the faults in your design.
At the moment when you have to go back to the drawing board and consider a new strategy, this might not be clear to you but once you succeed, you will be thankful that you had the opportunity to do it better.
Another thing failing can do for you is make you stronger. Failure toughens you. It prepares you mentally and emotionally for all that is to come. Once you are hardened by your failures, you will find that you become used to challenges – they no longer scare you. You are also more resilient and likely to grow more determined with your goals.
Failing pushes you to take more risks. Imagine your company that you have worked so hard to build from the ground is under threat of folding up, what would you do?
Would you fold your arms and watch it go under or will you do everything humanly possible to make sure it does not fail? I guess that you will do the latter. Failing has that effect on people.
Anyone who has experienced failure tries their very best to avoid it and that determination never to fail again pushes them to do what many would consider the supernatural.
Failing a lot can make finally succeeding look even better than if you succeeded on your first try. You can never really appreciate the efforts you put in or the stuff that you are truly made of except you experience failure.
As you celebrate your successes, the failures that got you there will make you fully appreciate your resilience and strength. And that realization alone can make you an invincible force to be reckoned with.
What Failure Can Teach Us?
For many, failure can be a very hard pill to swallow, and understandably so. When you put your all into achieving something and it does not turn out as you would have like, it can be the most demoralizing and spirit-crushing experience. Failure can make you contemplate never attempting another thing ever again.
Failing can teach us a lot about ourselves and what we can do. How else can we know our strengths and weaknesses if not by failing? Failing shows us what works best for us.
For example, if a student who only studies at night fails the examination, he or she can try another method or study time until the most suitable is discovered. Failure is also a very excellent teacher. There are some things that I learned by failing and I have never repeated those mistakes.
While I was in elementary school, I found that many of the class exercises which I failed and had to seek correction for were the ones I got in the exams. I learned then that people are generally more mindful of their past mistakes and are careful not to repeat them.
Failing also taught me to be more attentive and focused. I used to be a person with a low attention span. I get easily distracted and quickly worked up. But failing taught me to be more patient and to direct all my attention on the matter at hand and that has helped me achieve a lot of things I ordinarily would not have been able to.
I am also more attentive to other people and this has improved my relationship and interaction with other people. It has made me open up, create meaningful friendships, and sustain wonderful relationships that continue to serve me well years later.
Why Is Failure So Important?
We need to fail to learn, unlearn and relearn. Experience is the best teacher and a lot of people learn more from their failures than from any other teacher or institution.
Even if you go to an Ivy League college or have an Oxbridge education, there are just some things only your failures can teach you. You learn so much from your failures.
Not only about yourself but about how the world works. A lot of the improvements we see in today’s world are based on our collective failures of the past.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, for example, came about after man realized that he had failed to recognize the humanity of others and by so doing, had lost his humanity.
As we navigate this world, we will find that our beliefs are constantly challenged by other ideas and ideologies. If these beliefs fail to meet up with the realities of our day, we are likely to unlearn them and adopt more concrete ideas.
This is why the world that we live in today is different from that of the past. People are constantly challenging long-held beliefs and changing them to suit the climate of the world we presently live in.
Failure also helps us relearn. If we had initially held on to ideas that can no longer stand the test of time, it is only natural that we learn new and improved ways of behaving and doing things. This is how the world advances. Today, for example, we hardly hear of sinking ships, this is because such failures of the past were looked into and better ships were built.
Conclusion
A person can have values that will not help them succeed in life. In such a case, they unconsciously behave in a way that sets them up for failure. Such behavior could include not having value for their time, being afraid to take risks, holding on to the past, or always thinking negatively.
Everyone can become a success but it is not something that happens mistakenly; it is not enough to simply desire success, you must work hard at it and part of doing that is changing your attitude, beliefs, values, and the manner with which you approach things.
