Setting Yourself Up For Failure – Part 1
January 30th, 2020 // 1:34 pm @ Scott Manning
I am amazed – but not in the least bit amused – how many people actually do set themselves up for failure. Sometimes they even know it and sometimes they don’t.
Usually it is choosing to be oblivious, in denial of, or simply ignorant to something or someone that they know to be detrimental to their objectives, goals, and purpose.
Yes, it would be easier for me to just say, re read the last two Newsletters and if you want to fail – do the opposite of what I said you should do… establish your success routine and then don’t do that.
Isn’t that just crazy to say it out loud.
But, you know what, we all have Achille’s heels.
And we all have flaws that are mental, physical, emotional, environmental, personal, and professional.
Let me just ask you again, different but similar to last week, what do you know about yourself that you should just embrace and find a way to compensate for instead of keep telling yourself that you are going to change.
Yes, anyone is capable of change – if decidedly so – that said, sometimes it’s not worth the battle. And sometimes it is.
What will most likely cause you to fail and fall short (not just of your goals but of your potential), is your own thinking and beliefs. Whether you are positively expecting good results or negatively paranoid about their possibilities.
You can be realistic without being stupidly optimistic and you can also be pragmatic without being ridiculously pessimistic so much so that you trap yourself into failure before you’ve even begun.
If you were to do nothing else, commit to this, avoid the things that set you up to sabotage yourself or be sabotaged by others.
I have a saying on my desk that says, “doubt whom you will, but never yourself.”
You can think twice but you can’t second guess. There is a big difference.
Here’s my easy test around this concept when we are just talking about goals in general…
State what you want to achieve no matter how big or how small and then it’s very helpful if you ask yourself and write out the reasons why you want to achieve it.
From there, make a list of all the things that would equal this result: what attitude, behaviors, decisions, steps, actions, etc need to be made.
And then describe to yourself everything that you will be, have, do, experience if you would have already achieved that goal. What would define you and then all you have to do is do that now!
That’s right, the biggest way to set yourself up for failure is to have your actions misaligned with your goals; to have your behavior, attitude, habits opposing your stated objectives.
And let me assure you – very bluntly and confidently – this is NO PLACE where opposites attract. If you say but do not do then you will not have or achieve or become. Alignment is everything.
What can you do to better align yourself inside and outside with your goals and objectives that you want?
Begin this question first personally using what we have talked about over the past couple weeks.
First with you, physically, mentally, emotionally. Then with your relationships, your health, and habits. You can do this with your hobbies and interests too; really with anything at all. Then of course professionally with your business, your wealth, your leadership…
Before I go into some tips and tricks and strategies, it is very important you check in on yourself and really assess how you are working.
We’ve beat up the routine idea and creating successful habits. We’ve talked about having an environment for success for your work.
Now flip the coin over and ask yourself about the opposite.
I guess they say the only thing worse than working out and eating the donut is not working out and eating the donut – but – success is far different than that in the reality of life and business…
It is far worse than being counter productive and in fact can destroy and ruin your potential and most of all wastes your time, resources (including people, money, effort), and opportunities when you are working against yourself by playing tug of war with your goals and objectives.
You can’t commit to a success routine and habits if you do not also at the very same time commit to avoiding the things that get in your way and sabotage your efforts thus setting yourself up for failure.
In wealth building and financial independence, the greatest principle is to not lose money, not to have to start over again, protect the capital, yet you can’t squander it or suppress it or horde it either.
This is the same concept: protect yourself from doing, thinking, being around others or tolerating things that are detriment to your desired outcomes. This is as important if not more important than anything else including doing everything right.
All the rights in the world won’t fix or save you from the wrongs that will ruin you.
Small or big, it all matters. Tiny variables will add up when you are wanting to be at your best and achieve your greatest ambitions.
Now, this is not to say that you won’t fail, can’t fail, shouldn’t fail. Of course, quite the opposite is true. Lessons are learned, character is built, fortunes are made from failures… these are of a different kind than the negligence of your own behavior or toleration of others when it comes to setting yourself up for failure in the first place with your thinking, actions, behaviors, habits, attitudes…
Control and protect these and you’ll control so much else, including the outcomes you want and your ability to stick to your success routine to be at your best.
More on the other next week…
Category : Blog
