Home
>
Success
>
Avoid The Thirteen Habits of a Failure

Avoid The Thirteen Habits of a Failure

Jim Rohn, the success guru and mentor, said, "Failure is a few errors in judgment repeated every day." The word to watch is "repeated."

Now there's a difference between temporary and permanent failure. We fail at many things in life; it's all part of our growth and development. A baby starts to walk and falls down, tries again, falls again. Eventually she walks. Failure evolves into success. You make an investment in a stock, based on the seller's advice. It turns out to be a dud. Failure here may teach you a lesson - a need to do more research on the stock, or on the seller ? or on both. You meet someone, fall in love, and get married within a month. Three months later you're in the middle of a divorce. Another failure with a lesson learned, hopefully.

Then there's permanent failure; he does the same thing over and over again and gets the same bad results. He earns the title, "Failure."

Everyone wants to know how to be successful, but not everyone is prepared to take the action required to do (or stop doing) what it takes to achieve success. We avidly devour books on success and motivation. They are some of the biggest sellers found in bookshops, usually listed under "psychology", "self-improvement", "management", or "business." People attend lectures and seminars by business and motivational speakers on how to be more accomplished, more productive, and more successful. They are impressed, inspired, and uplifted. But 80-90% of those people do nothing as a result of attending those events. They take no action to achieve what they know and believe should be done to change their circumstances for the better. How come?

Rather than spout off here about how to become successful, I'm going to talk about how you can become a failure ? a little reverse psychology. I can talk about this because I've been there and I've learned some tough lessons. Tom Peters said failure in itself is good, even necessary. Without failure there can be no real learning or achievement. Permanent failure, however, is when we don't learn from our temporary failures. The real issue is that if you don't focus on what causes failure, and if you don't decide to do something about it, you're perpetuating permanent failure and blocking any path to success.

Here are thirteen ways to fail consistently:

1. Have no written goals whatsoever.

2. Have no plans.

3. Take little or no action, even if you have goals.

4. Associate with the wrong people.

5. Watch too much TV.

6. Never listen to, or inquire about, others' interests.

7. Avoid all risks.

8. Complain and whine constantly.

9. Depend on others too much.

10. Don't read or study success.

11. Stay in your comfort zone.

12. Blame others for your "bad luck."

13. Be afraid to say 'No!"

Here's how to reverse the flow of permanent failure

? Make a big circle around the ones that are true for you.

? Make a decision to make them part of your new focus.

? Rewrite each circled item like this: for example, # 1: "Because I have no goals whatsoever, I am dissatisfied (or bored) with my life" or "I see no success in my future" or "I will never be promoted", or some other negative result you can think of. Be as honest as you can. Then decide to change the status quo. Pick one item and work on it, starting today. Let me know how you made out! In future articles I will elaborate on some of these specific causes of permanent failure.

John Madden is an international speaker, trainer, and author of "Leap, Don't Sleep" (How to get different results by doing something different). He helps businesses and individuals become more successful through customer service training, changing present results, coaching skills for managers, stress management through humor, time management, and interpersonal skills. You can reach him at 316-689-6932; email at john@leapdontsleep.com; web site: john@leapdontsleep.com

express cleaning service Arlington Heights ..

In The News:

Researchers from Osaka Metropolitan University designed a 21-foot dome that combines aquaculture and hydroponics to create a self-sustaining urban food system.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

ChatGPT data breach exposes personal info of users through partner Mixpanel. OpenAI confirms names, emails compromised in security incident.

Android rolls out Emergency Live Video for 911 calls, letting dispatchers see real-time scenes during emergencies. Great for holiday travel safety.

Malicious Chrome and Edge extensions collected browsing history, keystrokes and personal data from millions of users before Google and Microsoft removed them.

Google's new Call Reason feature lets Android users mark calls as urgent before dialing, displaying an urgent label to recipients using Phone by Google app.

Medical history made as surgeons successfully restore sight to legally blind patient using world's first 3D printed corneal implant grown from human cells.

Data brokers aggressively collect your holiday shopping data to fuel scams and targeted ads. Learn how to delete your digital profile before 2025 starts.

Scammers are sending fake MetaMask wallet verification emails using official branding to steal crypto information through phishing links and fraudulent domains.

Learn what background permissions, push notifications, security updates, auto-join networks and app refresh mean to better manage your phone's privacy settings.

Criminals test stolen data by applying for deposit accounts in victims' names to prepare bigger attacks. Learn why banks won't share fraud details.

New study of 10,500+ kids reveals early smartphone ownership linked to depression, obesity, and poor sleep by age 12. Earlier phones mean higher risks.

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Avoid The Thirteen Habits of a Failure

Success