10 Things That Will Spoil Your Success

Written by Jimmie Burroughs Email this article to a friend

The difference between success and failure is learning what to do and then taking consistent action. Not knowing what to do and taking the wrong action always spells failure. Below are 10 things that will spoil your success.

1. Carrying an unnecessary load of debt

2. Unable to discern truth from untruth

3. Not distinguishing an opportunity from a non opportunity

4. Being a quitter

5. Developing bad habits instead of good ones

6. Never taking the blame

7. Having a closed mindset

8. Hanging with the wrong crowd

9. Operating on emotions rather than sound information

10. Using outdated ideas

Carrying an unnecessary load of debt:

A lot of debt carried by the average person is unnecessary and should be avoided. Example, if you have a dependable car that is paid for, why would you need to go in debt for 4 or 5 years to buy a new one? If you have rather nice furnishings for your home, why would you want to go in debt to replace them with new things? If your home is small but adequate, why buy a larger one and have a much larger payment? Why run up a credit card and pay as much as 18% finance when you could save up money to make purchases and save on all the interest?

The primary difference between the way that successful people spend and unsuccessful people is that successful people invest in assets and unsuccessful people buy junk. Go to any yard sale to prove the point. Much of what unsuccessful buy is on an impulse. They see it they like it and buy it without a second thought. Stores know this about you so that display the items you didn’t plan to buy and the things you don’t need prominently to entice you to buy them. Here’s a suggestion: before you go grocery shopping, make out a list and then stick to it in order to avoid impulse buying.

Saving money and spending wisely does not take a genius but just a little thought and planning as well as some discipline. By planning, instead of making a dozen trips to town you can reduce it by a half or more and save a lot on fuel costs. Buying clothes out of season can save up to 75%. Shopping for groceries at a discount grocery can save up to 15% or more on your grocery bill. Shopping at Goodwill and buying some used items can save a lot of money. I recently purchased a pair of shoes that retailed for $350 for $10 and they were almost new. I bought a George Forman grill that looked like it was never used for $2.95. I bought some Levies jeans for $8 that looked the same as ones that cost $40 new.

With a little planning a person can buy at a large discount and pay off their credit cards and car payments and free up a lot of money to save. Remember that carrying unnecessary debt is also carrying unnecessary stress and keeping you drained of cash as well as keeping you from investing in your own business that could bring in additional money.

Unable to discern the truth:

Falling for hype and scams is a failure to discern the truth. Do your homework and store up a point of reference for making wise decisions. Gullibility is making rash decisions based on impulse rather than knowledge. Keep in mind that knowledge refines our ability to discern between what is potentially a bad choice and a good choice, what is true and what is false.

Discernment is an inner mechanism that enables a person to make solid decisions even without having the full details. It is and ability that is enhanced by knowledge, so acquiring knowledge is of an essence if it is your desire to make wise decisions and build on your ability to discern what truth is and what is untruth.

Not distinguishing an opportunity from a non opportunity:

Take time to investigate something before you dive in. Google the names of the leaders of company and check the better business bureau to see if claims have been placed against the company. Talk to people involved with the company. If leadership is not available, beware.

If things don’t seem right, it is probably for a reason. We can’t always be 100% sure but we can always eliminate some doubt and discern between good and bad choices.

Taking time to investigate is the best policy. It can reveal things that might not be apparent otherwise and save a lot of wasted money and time.

There are guidelines that are readily available for making a choice of an MLM Company. Check my article:

Being a quitter:

One of the greatest reasons for failure is quitting. Many quit never knowing that they are only inches away from success. When you discover an opportunity that is proven already to be successful, don’t skip out to another opportunity across the road that might appear to be the next big one. If a person applys the right strategy, it doesn’t make any difference about which company it is as long as it is a solid company that offers quality products or services.

Too people in MLM are jumpers, sometimes referred to as tire kickers; always jumping from this to that without ever giving anything a chance to work. That old saying, “A rolling stone gathers no moss” is especially true in network marketing and it is one of the greatest reasons so many fail in the industry.

Developing bad habits instead of good ones:

One really bad habit is doing the same things over and over while expecting different results. If something doesn’t work, it won’t work regardless how many times you try; you need to change your habit and try something new and different.

I’m constantly amazed at some intelligent people I know who continue the habit of smoking when there are so many known health risks involved, not to mention the money wasted.

Obviously most of the time we are able to recognize our bad habits. While it is true bad habits are easier to recognize than they are to break, it is possible to make changes that are for better health and greater success if we are determined to do so.

We usually know the good habits that we need. A good habit takes 21 days to become a part of our normal routine and then can remain the rest of our life if we so desire. Don’t expect to acquire a good habit if you are not willing to go the course.

Never taking the blame:

It is easy to always just blame someone else for our failure or for anything that goes wrong rather than facing up and taking our share of the blame. The buck truly does stop with you concerning your life. No one else is responsible for your happiness, success or welfare; it is up to you and you alone.

Others can be supportive but you must take the responsibility. Blaming others will change nothing but only keep you from facing up to the changes that you must make in order to reach any success in your life. It is only when you are determined to take charge of your own life that changes can be made. The key is to quit blaming everyone else and take charge and make the necessary changes.

Having a closed mindset:

If you are the kind of person who knows everything about everything, you are indeed very dumb because you are not even aware of what you don’t know and how vast what you don’t know is.

If there is one thing I learned in my trek through college, it is how little I know and how much there is to learn. A close minded person is limited to the amount of knowledge they have. A successful person on the other hand is always looking for new knowledge and improving on what they already know.

A successful person isn’t afraid to try new things and to admit he has been doing something the wrong way. He listens to criticism and evaluates it carefully. He is willing to change his way of doing things as soon as he recognizes it as a wrong approach.

Hanging with the wrong crowd:

People become the people they hang around with. If you associate with losers, then you are likely to be right there with them. If you believe the naysayers you hang with, you are not likely to succeed.

Elvis Presley failed music in high school, according to him the only course that he ever failed. His music teacher told him he could not sing. He failed several music auditions. He appeared on the Grand Ole Opera one time and was told he was not suitable for that show. He failed in his first Las Vegas appearance. He was told by one musician to forget about singing and go back to driving a truck because he would never make it in music. Elvis sold more records worldwide than any other person in history. Not bad for a person who was told a number of times by a number of people that he couldn’t sing.

I’m glad Elvis refused to believe his naysayers. You will have your share also that will tell you that you can’t do whatever it is that you decide to do. These may include your friends and family.

Hang with people who want you to succeed and have already succeeded. Learn from them. Determine that you will succeed also. Let nobody or anything stop you. Choose your friends and associates carefully.

Operating on emotions rather than sound information:

We are emotional beings so naturally we are prone to let our emotions be in control; to do so however can be a big mistake. Emotions are nothing more than a bundle of drives that must be under the control of a much more stable entity. Emotions or drives can be for the good or for the bad and it is our discernment that decides how to best use them.

For example, the sex drive, which is an emotion, can be satisfied either in a legitimate way or in an illegitimate way. Who decides which it will be? Our emotions say do it because it feels good but our discernment says wait! that is not in your best interest nor is it the right thing to do.

Using outdated ideas:

If you went to your doctor and he wants to use a procedure that was outdated 50 years ago, what would you say? You would of course say, rather not. Why then would we still be doing things the old way in business or otherwise when there is something newer that works much better?

Sometimes it is because we are stubborn and refuse to believe or we are in the dark and have failed to learn the new and better ways. Being stuck in outdated ideas is like being stuck in the dark.

Some churches are the worst offenders when it comes to sticking with outdated ideas. They believe in keeping with tradition and forfeit being relevant to a new generation who has a different way of doing things and have different interests. I’m not talking about giving up truth but changing the procedures and the means by which the truth is presented.

Conclusion:

We are the ones who are responsible; each of us individually. It is easy to do all the wrong things and do them consistently; it is the course of least resistance.

It sometimes requires making new friends and refusing to listen to bad advice even if it does come from friends and family. Doing the right things takes knowledge that has to be learned. It requires learning new skill sets and dumping old habits that hold us back.

It requires avoiding actions that kill success and developing new actions that bring success. You can do all of this if you are determined and are willing to acquire knowledge and to take the appropriate action. But it does take determination, knowledge and action and sometimes a lot of it.

I have great confidence in the progress you are going to make.

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