Nobody really wants to be unsuccessful in their goals and ambitions, but sometimes, whether consciously or unconsciously, we make decisions that lead us astray. Here are 18 subtle signs you’re sabotaging your own success.
Dismissing Constructive Feedback
It’s hard to grow if you never realize what you’re doing wrong. By failing to take the constructive criticism of others on board, you’re failing to see what you could be doing differently to succeed.
Entitlement to Success
If you’re raised with or develop the belief that success is owed without needing to put in any effort, you’ll likely fail to take the steps needed to get where you want to be. This sometimes comes with a superiority complex, which often makes you complacent and undriven.
Fear of Failure
A fear of failure can hold anyone back in life. It’s always scary to put yourself and your efforts out there without knowing whether it will pay off. But often, the best way to learn is by failing and learning from that failure. Instead of avoiding failure, face it head-on with the knowledge that each failure is a step closer to success.
Living in Disorganization
According to Brother UK, a messy workspace truly can have an impact on your mental space and productivity levels. To ensure you’re clear-headed and ready to tackle your goals, first organize and clean up your desk and working environment. You may be surprised at how different you feel.
Glorifying Being Busy
It’s a common misconception that success is dependent on constantly being busy with something. Productive work is different from busyness; you can work smarter without needing to work harder. For example, you can ensure you’re more focused and active during a shorter period of time using productivity techniques such as the Pomodoro method.
Losing Sight of the End Goal
End goals can be large and daunting, so it’s understandable why we’d want to avoid focusing on them too much. However, diverging too much from your intended path can result in failure, as you may forget what all your work is for.
Being in Too Much of a Hurry
Another productivity misconception is that you need to work as quickly as possible to be successful in your tasks. Sometimes, it’s important to slow down and ensure you’re creating quality work that reflects your best efforts and abilities.
Being Indecisive
If you don’t make enough decisions quickly enough, you may end up missing important deadlines and opportunities. By taking time out to focus on the decisions you need to make, weighing them up, and choosing the best option, you can overcome self-doubt and make progress more quickly.
Trying to Do Everything Alone
Some people swear by multitasking. However, as noted by Lifespan, the reality for most people is that trying to do too many things at once leaves you unfocused, scatterbrained, and with a lot of half-done tasks. If you’re a chronic multitasker, try focusing on just one thing for a while and see if you feel more productive.
Following Others Blindly
It’s tempting to look at someone else’s road to success and decide to blindly copy their actions and decisions. However, we’re all individuals with different capabilities and strengths. As such, it’s important to forge your own path and play to your own unique strengths.
Chasing Too Many Goals Simultaneously
Like multitasking, having too many goals in mind at the same time can cause you to become mentally scattered and unfocused. It’s important to prioritize your primary goals and concentrate on putting your mental resources into just one or two goals at a time, if possible.
Ignoring Incremental Progress
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that each little step toward our larger goal is a victory in itself. If we only measure our success by whether or not we’ve achieved our main goal, we fail to appreciate our progress and may become unmotivated.
Procrastinating on Difficult Tasks
We all struggle with procrastination at times. Our brains often work against us by choosing short-term satisfaction over the delayed gratification of achieving a long, difficult goal. Procrastination has been proven to negatively impact your goals and productivity. If you struggle with procrastination, try to focus on just one small step toward your goal at a time.
Not Focusing on What You Truly Want
Sometimes our lack of progress and success comes from putting our efforts into the wrong things. If you’re working toward something that you don’t truly want, it will be very difficult to motivate yourself toward achieving it. As much as possible, ensure your goals are aligned with your values and desires.
Not Allowing Yourself to Receive
It’s very important to ensure you’re filling up your own cup before you can pour your resources elsewhere. As such, it’s important to seek support when you need it and make sure you’re taking care of yourself before trying to meet others’ needs or expecting too much from yourself.
Not Creating SMART Goals
As noted by the National Institute of Health, SMART goals are proven to be a highly effective tool for making progress toward your goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals. Each of these elements will ensure you remain motivated, focused, and on task in your pursuit of your goals.
Prioritizing Short-Term Desires Over Long-Term Goals
It’s easy to fall into the trap of going after simple, short-term desires rather than facing your more difficult and lengthy goals. However, to fight this urge, you can set short-term goals toward your larger goal and reward yourself after achieving each small step.
Surrounding Yourself with Bad Influences
We hate to call out some of your friends and family members on this one, but surrounding yourself with other distracted or unmotivated people can indeed have a detrimental impact on your success. Remember that it’s important to say no to spending time with others when you need to focus on your own goals. CF
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