The Major 30 Causes of Failure
How Many of These Are Holding You Back?
1. UNFAVORABLE HEREDITARY BACKGROUND. Little, if anything, can be done for people who are born with a deficiency in brainpower. This philosophy offers but one method of bridging this weakness-through the aid of the Master Mind (see page 193). Observe with profit, however, that this is the only one of the 30 causes of failure that may not be easily corrected by any individual.
2. LACK OF A WELL-DEFINED PURPOSE IN LIFE. There is no hope of success for the person who does not have a central purpose, of definite goal, at which to aim. Ninety-eight out of every hundred of those whom I have analyzed had no such aim. Perhaps this was the major cause of their failure.
3. LACK OF AMBITION TO AIM ABOVE MEDIOCRITY. We offer no hope for the person who is so indifferent as not to want to get ahead in life, and who is not willing to pay the price.
4. INSUFFICIENT EDUCATION. This is a handicap that may be overcome with comparative ease. Experience has proven that the best educated people are often those who are known as “self-made” or self-educated. It takes more than a university degree to make one a person of education. Any person who is educated has learned to get whatever they want in life without violating the rights of others. Education consist not so much of knowledge, but of knowledge effectively and persistently applied. People are paid not merely for what they know, but more particularly for what they do with what they know.
5. LACK OF SELF-DISCIPLINE. Discipline comes through self-control. This means that you must control all negative qualities. Before you can control conditions, you must first control yourself. Self-mastery is the hardest job you will ever tackle. If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self. You may see at one and the same time both your best friend and your greatest enemy, by stepping in front of a mirror.
6. ILL HEALTH. No person may enjoy outstanding success without good health. Many of the causes of ill health are subject to mastery and control. These, in the main are:
Overeating of foods not conductive to health
Wrong habits of thought; giving expression to negatives
Wrong use of, and overindulgence in s*x
Lack of physical exercise
An inadequate supply of fresh air, due to improper breathing
7. UNFAVORABLE ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES DURING CHILDHOOD. “As the twig is bent, so shall the tree grow.” Most people who have criminal tendencies acquire them as a result of bad environment and improper associates during childhood.
8. PROCRASTINATION. This is one of the most common causes of failure. “Old Man Procrastination” stands within the shadow of all people, awaiting the opportunity to spoil their chances of success. Most of us go through life as failures because we are waiting for the “time to be right” to start doing something worthwhile. Do not wait. The time will never be “just right.” Start where you stand, work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
9. LACK OF PERSISTENCE. Most of us are good “starters” but poor “finishers” of everything we begin. Moreover, people are prone to give up at the first signs of defeat. There is no substitute for persistence. The persistent person discovers that “Old Man Failure” finally becomes tired and goes away. Failure cannot cope with persistence.
10. NEGATIVE PERSONALITY. There is no hope of success for people who repel people through a negative personality. Success comes through the application of power, and power is attained through the cooperative efforts of other people. A negative personality will not induce cooperation.
11. LACK OF CONTROL OF s*xUAL URGE. s*x energy is the most powerful of all the stimuli that move people into action. Because it is the most powerful of the emotions, it must be controlled through transmutation, and converted into other channels.
12. UNCONTROLLED DESIRE FOR “SOMETHING FOR NOTHING.” The gambling instinct drives million of people to failure. Evidence of this may be found in a study of the dot-com fiasco of the early 2000’s, during which millions of people tried to make money by investing in fly-by-night companies.
13. LACK OF A WELL-DEFINED POWER OF DECISION. People who succeed reach decisions promptly, and change them-if at all-very slowly. People who fail reach decisions-if at all- very slowly, and change them frequently and quickly. Indecision and procrastination are twins. Where one is found, the other may usually be found. Kill off this pair before they completely tie you to the treadmill of failure.
14. ONE OR MORE OF THE SIX BASIC FEARS. These fears have been analyzed for you in chapter 15. They must be mastered before you can master your services effectively.
15. WRONG SELECTION OF A MATE IN MARRIAGE. This is a most common cause of failure. The relationship of marriage brings people intimately into contact. Unless this relationship is harmonious, failure is likely to follow. Moreover, it will bring a form of failure marked by misery and unhappiness, destroying all signs of ambition.
16. OVER-CAUTION. The person who takes no chances generally has to take whatever is left when others have finished choosing. Over-caution is as bad as under-caution. Both are extremes to be guarded against. Life itself is filled with this element of chance.
17. WRONG SELECTION OF ASSOCIATES IN BUSINESS. This is one of the most common causes of failure in business. In marketing your services, you should take great care in selecting an employer who will be an inspiration, and who is intelligent and successful. We emulate those with whom we associate most closely. Pick an employer is worth emulating.
18. SUPERSTITION AND PREJUDICE. Superstition is a form of fear. It is also a sign of ignorance. People who succeed keep open minds and are afraid of nothing.
19. WRONG SELECTION OF A VOCATION. No one can succeed in a line of endeavor they do not like. The most essential service in marketing your services is selecting an occupation into which you can throw yourself wholeheartedly.
20. LACK OF CONCENTRATION OF EFFORT. The “jack-of-all-trades” is seldom good at any. Concentrate all your efforts on one definite chief aim.
21. THE HABIT OF INDISCRIMINATE SPENDING. Spendthrifts cannot succeed, mainly because they stand eternally in fear of poverty. Form the habit of systematic saving by putting aside a definite percentage of your income. Money in the bank gives you a very safe foundation when bargaining for the sale of your services. Without money, you must take what you are offered.
22. LACK OF ENTHUSIASM. Without enthusiasm one cannot be convincing. Moreover, enthusiasm is contagious, and the person who has it, under control, is generally welcome in any group of people.
23. INTOLERANCE. The person with a “closed” mind on any subject seldom gets ahead. Intolerance means that one has stopped acquiring knowledge. The most damaging forms of intolerance are those connected with religious, racial, and political differences of opinion.
24. INTEMPERANCE. The most damaging forms of Intemperance are connected with eating, strong drink and s*xual activities. Overindulgence in any of these is fatal to success.
25. INABILITY TO COOPERATE WITH OTHERS. More people lose their positions and big opportunities in life because of this fault which no well-informed business executive or leader will tolerate.
26. POSSESSION OF POWER NOT ACQUIRED THROUGH SELF-EFFORT. (Sons or daughters of wealthy families, and others who inherit money they did not earn.) Power in the hands of one who did not acquire it gradually is often fatal to success. Quick riches are more dangerous than poverty.
27. INTENTIONAL DISHONESTY. There is no substitute for honesty. One may be temporarily dishonest by force of circumstances over which one has no control, without permanent damage. But there is no hope for people who are dishonest by choice. Sooner or later, their deeds will catch up with them, and they will pay by loss of reputation, and even perhaps loss of liberty.
28. EGOTISM AND VANITY. These qualities serve as red lights that warn others to keep away. They are fatal to success.
29. GUESSING INSTEAD OF THINKING. Most people are too indifferent or lazy to acquire facts with which to think accurately. They prefer to act on “opinions” created by guesswork or snap-judgments.
30. LACK OF CAPITAL. This is a common cause of failure among those who start out in business for the first time without sufficient reserve of capital to absorb the shock of their mistakes, and to carry them over until they have established a reputation.
31. Under this, name any particular cause of failure from which you have suffered that has not been included in the foregoing list.
Book: Think and grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
ISBN# 158542433
Posted By: Kevin Gunnells
Tuesday, September 2nd 2008 at 11:16AM
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