Everyone wants to know how to succeed, but no one wants to know how to fail. When knowing how to fail helps to spare you from failing. There are an array of surprising and not-so-surprising traits in our personality that can destine us for failure or success, or that may deter us on our way to success.
Quitting Easily
One of the most obvious reasons people fail is because they think things come easily a lot of the time; when they get the revelation that this is not the case they end up getting discouraged and quitting. Instead of quitting take a realistic approach to your goal and re-think things. Quitting is contagious if you are unmotivated, in low spirits, and you throw in the towel too soon others are going to want to do the same, and that will make for a very unproductive work environment.
Laziness
I don’t need to explain this one as this too is one of the most obvious reasons people fail as well. Working with a lazy person is frustrating and annoying. It’s hard wanting to get something done and seeing someone not contribute or care. This will make your coworkers not like you and it will deter them from wanting to work with you. If your boss catches wind of this trait too they will surely be in a good mood to fire you.
Rudeness/Aggressiveness
Let’s be honest, we all love pleasant, respectful, and good people, especially at work. Being rude is super unprofessional; if you always have an attitude, and you’re mean to everyone, they will not want to work with you. If you are rude to the people you’re doing business with/customers they aren’t going to want to return, your boss will catch wind of this, and a good old-fashioned firing will be in your future. Always getting into petty, immature fights with people is also a no-go; be mature and professional by avoiding petty arguments with coworkers or business partners. Bosses don’t want fights or any obstruction of peace in their work area.
Inability to Handle Criticism
Since we are human, we aren’t going to do everything right all the time, the first time. That’s okay though, because in the workforce, we have more mature/experienced people in the field that can give us good advice. If we are too sensitive, however, and we aren’t willing to take criticism, this will hurt our professional lives. We must learn and grow in our careers/jobs to be the best at them.
Blame Game & Bad Company
Always take responsibility for your actions; if you did something wrong, humble yourself, and acknowledge it instead of blaming others. If you do this, you will learn from your mistakes, and you won’t want to do it again. Bad company corrupts good character, iron can’t sharpen iron, if you surround yourself with coworkers who have any of the traits I mentioned above, you will turn into them, and that is not good for your future or theirs. Surround yourself with people you look up to, and learn from them.
Anyone can achieve their goals with a good head on their shoulders; no matter what class, race, religion, personality type, or background they are. It all comes down to how much they want it and the lengths they are willing to go to make it happen.
