1st Reason: They Define Success Wrongly.
• Success is won: if you believe that success is won, you experience animosity and envy toward those you view as lucky or more fortunate than you.
• You also believe that success is out of your control; it simply depends on a flip of the coin or certain circumstances.
• How hard are you willing to work if you believe that success is won rather than earned?
• Success is innate: people who believe success is innate often feel the same as those who believe it’s won. The only difference is that believers in innate-success have a more pessimistic view of opportunity; it’s trivial to them.
• Why does opportunity matter if success is innate?
• How hard are you willing to work if you feel your opportunity doesn’t matter and your chances of success are nil because of your circumstances?
• Success is earned: the last group of people believes what we know to be true based on statistical analysis; success is earned.
• These people understand that in order to succeed, they must earn it.
• How do they earn it? They climb the mountain and utilize the same process others have used to achieve.
• How hard are you willing to work if you believe success must be earned?
2nd Reason: They Define Opportunity Wrongly
• “The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.” – Ayn Rand
What is an opportunity?
Do you believe that opportunity provides a possibility of success, a probability of success, or that it’s trivial?
• People who believe success is won see their opportunity as a possibility, but sometimes as trivial.
• People who believe success is innate see their opportunity as trivial.
• People who believe success is earned see their opportunity as a probability, but sometimes only as a possibility.
3rd Reason: They Define Work Wrongly
What is your definition of work?
• Physical Labor
• Mental Labor
Those who claim that success doesn’t always come from hard work only acknowledge one aspect of work, physical labor.
4th Reason: They Defeat Themselves
“To expect defeat is nine-tenths of defeat itself.” – Henry Mencken
· Many people defeat themselves simply by expecting defeat in the first place. They don’t expect success and it actually becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
5th Reason: They Think Failure is Final
- “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” – Winston Churchill
- Failure is a key ingredient in success.
- Those who don’t achieve success most likely quit after their failure.
- If you were to follow in the footsteps of a successful person, you would likely pass the remnants of multiple failures.
- If you followed in the footsteps of a failure, you would find their lifeless future at the feet of their first opponent.
- There are no shortcuts, statistically. The vast majority of millionaires are self-made and far too many lottery winners are broke and worse off than they were before they won the lottery. Why?
- Because wealth is about behavior and money doesn’t protect you from failure.
6th Reason: They’re a Victim of Their Circumstances
- “The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.” – Mark Cain
- Everyone has issues, circumstances, road blocks, etc. It’s all about how you deal with your circumstances and how hard you’re willing to work to overcome them.
- But the basics don’t change; you’re still in a free country and nobody is preventing you from achieving except yourself.
7th Reason: They Take No For an Answer
- “Opposition is a natural part of life. Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition – such as lifting weights – we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.” – Stephen R. Covey
- Success is possible for anyone who is willing to achieve it. There are many who want success, but there is a huge difference between wanting-to and willing-to