12 Behaviors and Attitudes That Can Prevent You From Achieving Your Dreams
Our intentions are usually good, and our dreams are often achievable. Still, there are times when we have no one to blame but ourselves when we can’t do everything we want to do. We tend to hold ourselves back from greatness, and we might not even realize that we’re doing it.
What it comes down to are unintentionally bad attitudes and unintentionally restricting behaviors. If we can eliminate these poisons from our outlooks and our actions, we put ourselves in a better place from which to succeed and achieve everything we want to achieve. Here are 12 behaviors and attitudes that can prevent you from achieving your dreams. Are you guilty of any of these?
1. Worrying about what others think of you. If you are passionate and work hard what other people think about you shouldn’t matter. There will always be unwanted judgments and unsolicited advice, but if you allow these things to define you as a person, you’ll never get ahead. Know your own value and don’t be dependent on the approval of others.
2. Not having a plan. First and foremost, if you don’t have a dream, you won’t achieve it; as Zig Ziglar is often quoted as saying, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time”. But more than that, starting off each day without a plan keeps you from being efficient and productive. Take the time to do short term planning every day, and set aside time once a week for long term re-evaluating.
3. Defining success by income. It’s good to have a lot of money, but it’s so much more important to be happy. And, a big bank account doesn’t guarantee happiness — it only means that you’ll have more money to throw at problems to make them go away. Follow your heart and consider your success in terms of how happy you are. If you do, chances are good that your bank account will be just fine.
4. Being resistant to change. Change is inevitable; the world moves forward, and you can either move with it or get left behind. If you want to achieve your dreams and be successful, you’ve got to be able to adapt in a changing environment. Otherwise, you’re stuck using old paradigms to solve new problems.
5. Associating with toxic people. You’re only as good as the company you keep, as the old saying goes. Surround yourself with negative people who complain all the time, and you’ll quickly become one of them — and that’s destructive if you want to get ahead in life. Surround yourself with positive, likeminded people, and you’ll greatly improve your chances of realizing your dreams.
6. Letting jealousy get the best of you. If an associate is enjoying great success, feeling envious is perhaps the least productive thing you can do. Instead, show that you’re happy for him or her! There’s plenty of success to go around, and the good fortune of others’ has absolutely nothing to do with your abilities or shortcomings.
7. Letting roadblocks stop you. Roadblocks, obstacles, bumps in the road — they’re all things to go around or work through on the path to success. If you see them as a complete blockage to your dreams, however, you’ll never get ahead. Instead of quitting when you find yourself up against a roadblock, rise to the challenge and work at overcoming the problem. Everyone faces problems, but people who are able to achieve their dreams are able to get past them.
8. Seeing failure as anything more than a temporary setback. A certain amount of failure is practically a given in any industry. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. Failure can be extremely instructive: it shows us where we went wrong and what doesn’t work, and it pushes us to grow into better versions of ourselves. No one’s immune to it, either, and in fact, most successful people will fail more than they succeed. A perfect analogy here is baseball, a game in which success is defined as a player who hits the ball into play three out of every ten times at bat.
9. Playing the victim. If you see yourself as a victim, you’ll never achieve anything. Victims relinquish control, while successful people are the masters of their destiny. If you’re not in control, you’re going to have a hard time achieving your dreams.
10. Making excuses instead of making progress. If something’s not going right, change your approach. If you make a mistake, admit it. If things don’t work out according to plan, take responsibility for them. Making excuses for these things gets you nowhere.
11. Not taking care of yourself. Being in good health is important for many reasons, not the least of which is that it will help you in your entrepreneurial endeavors. Eating right and getting enough sleep and exercise keeps your head clear, your mind sharp, and your motivation high.
12. Being ruthless. Other people aren’t just things to knock out of your path on your way to the top. Showing a marked lack of compassion for your fellow humans quickly makes you someone with whom others would rather not associate. And, no matter how talented and capable you might be, you’ll almost definitely need to call on others from time to time as you work to achieve your dreams. Plus, if you believe in karma, it’s always wise to be good to others.
You’ll have many challenges climbing the mountain of success, the most difficult of which may be brought on by you and you alone. Once you recognize that your own actions and your own behaviors are perhaps the most instrumental factors in achieving your dreams, it’s time to take a personal inventor. What are you doing that’s holding you back? It’s not a twelve-step program, but avoiding the twelve things listed here can put you twelve steps closer to dream fulfillment.