So, are you successful in life? Have you accomplished all your goals and are already living your dream life? If you’re not, what is holding you back from succeeding?
I know, becoming extraordinary, creating outstanding results in your career, and living a great life is not something easy to achieve.
But that’s exactly the point. It is not going to be easy, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible.
No matter what kind of success you want to achieve in life, someone out there has accomplished it and he or she has the answer to how to do it.
The problem is what is holding you back?
I bet you have heard this quote before:
“If you are interested, you’ll do what is convenient. But if you are 100% committed, you’ll do whatever it takes.”
Hence, it is not about whether your goals or your dreams or the success you want is possible or not. It is possible!
The question is what is holding you back from achieving it? What is limiting you from becoming extraordinary?
And below are the 10 most common things that hold most people back from achieving the success they want in life.
After going through these 10 points below, let me know what is stopping you from achieving greatness in your life…
1. Fear of failure and uncertainty
We’re human beings, it is absolutely normal to have fears. And we all hate to fail. Nobody likes to fail.
Having the fear of failure or uncertainty is not the issue, but it becomes a problem if you don’t know how to take control of it and let it take over your life.
I have seen people who hate their jobs and what they do. They wanted to start a business and venture on their own. But still, they choose to stay in their jobs because they are afraid if things are not working and what if they fail.
This is a common feeling that stops most people from living their best life.
Do you afraid to fail? Are you scare of the uncertainty and hence, are not pursuing your goals and dreams?
How to overcome your fear of failure and uncertainty
First, change the meaning of what failures mean to you. You have to understand that failure is not as bad as it sounds.
In fact, we all need to fail to grow forward.
Look at history, we all learn from the past and history. Without failure, there will be no experience. And without experience, there will be no growth. And without growth, there will be no success.
A lot of people look at failure as the opposite of success, which is NOT true.
Failure is not the opposite of success; failure is the key to success.
The more you fail, the more you will learn. And the more you learn, the more you can succeed.
“Either you succeed, or you learn.”
Read this article: 10 Great Ways How to Stop Your Fear of Failure
2. Living without intention
Another common thing that stops most people from achieving the success they want is that they don’t live with intention.
In other words, they don’t have a clear direction and they lack a specific plan of how to get it.
Ends up, most people just follow the crowd and do what most people do. After college or university, they get a job, work hard, save money, buy a car, buy a house, build a family, and grow old.
There’s really nothing wrong with that, but if you are looking to live an extraordinary life and you want something extra, you’ll need to do something different.
You need to identify your destination and build a plan to get there, which most people lack.
Successful people don’t achieve amazing results out of the accident. They do it on purpose. They have a clear vision for what they want and then they live life on intention.
They take the right actions and go through each day to create the future that they want.
What about you? Are you living life as is or are you living with intention each day?
Do you feel like your life is getting nowhere and all you do is repeat every day and finding yourself stuck?
Or do you have a plan, follow it, take action according to your plan, and are slowly moving towards the destination that you want?
Remember, the man on top of the mountain didn’t fall there. He has a destination and a target. And he works his way to get there.
How to create a vision and live with intention each day
First, start with your goals and find out what you want to achieve in your life. As what Tony Robbins said:
“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.”
Imagine a football game played without a goal post. The players will be running up and down the field, wasting time and energy, but they can’t score.
Never let run up and down your life but can’t score. Therefore, set your goals and start working toward them.
Here’s what you can do: Enroll in Goal Setting Formula. Learn everything you can about setting goals and master the skill to live with intention each day.
3. Short-term thinking
Most people only focus on the short-term, and that is why they fail to succeed in life.
You see, success is not a sprint, but a marathon. Success isn’t an overnight result.
If you study the biographies of extraordinary like Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, you will notice that they didn’t produce outstanding success in a week or a month or a year.
It takes years to create real success in life. This is especially true if you are looking forward to building a successful business that changes life.
Hence, short-term thinking isn’t going to help. You have to think long-term. You have to focus on the future.
I like how Arnold Schwarzenegger puts it. This is what he said about long-term thinking:
“When you have a vision, a very clear vision of what you want to look like then you cannot wait to do the next set, or the next exercise, or the next rep, because you know that each rep you’re doing, each set you’re doing, each weight you lift, you get closer to turning this vision into reality.”
If you’re thinking short-term, all you think about is what is in front of you.
Imagine you’re working your goal, but if you are thinking short-term, all you do is to think about the instant reward.
If I only think about the monetary rewards from this blog, I would have given up a long time ago.
Like the bamboo tree story that I shared some time ago. If you plant a bamboo tree, you will notice that in the first few years, nothing will happen to it. Even if water it every day, making sure that it has the best nutrients and enough sunlight, it will not grow tall.
However, in the fifth year, out of sudden, the bamboo will grow 80 feet tall within just 6 weeks.
This is because in the first 4 years, the bamboo trees grow its root deeper into the ground, which you can’t see.
Success is like growing bamboo. You have to focus on the long-term. If you fixate on the short-term, in the first few years when you don’t see results, you will give up.
How to think long-term
Thinking long-term requires you to focus on the future you want. You have to make decisions and take actions based on what you want in the future, not now.
For instance, you can choose to play games or spend your time on social media, or you can choose to work on your website and grow your business.
If you think long-term, you will work on your goal because that gives you the success you want in the future.
But if you think short-term, you will choose to do what is convenient and what gives you pleasure right now.
This is what stops most people from succeeding in life. They choose to think short-term and do what gives them immediate gratification.
Here’s a good article you should read:
How to Think Long-Term: 7 Tips to Foster Your Long-Term Thinking
4. The need for instant gratification
It is common for people to choose to do something pleasurable right now than doing things that are painful to them.
For example, we know we need to get clean the dishes, but we prefer to watch our favorite drama on the TV.
This is what prevents most people from achieving the success they want in life – instant gratification.
Our minds have been conditioned to avoid pain and risks. We are wired to stay safe for our survival since centuries ago.
But those were the times when saber-toothed tiger lurking around.
Today, we don’t live in that kind of world anymore. However, to keep us safe and survive, our minds tend to stop us from doing uncomfortable things.
When we think about our goals and living our dreams, we feel motivated. But when it comes to taking action, which happens in the present moment, we may feel reluctant because it means doing the work that we may not like.
Thus, you have to learn to control your urge for immediate gratification.
Learn to make your work fun. Develop your passion for what you do so that when it comes to taking action, it doesn’t look like work.
When your work is something you look forward to doing, you can’t wait to do it. And it makes want to do more.
How to delay gratification and take action now
Your ability to discipline yourself to do the work you are supposed to do will determine your long-term success.
If you only focus on instant gratification, you will never succeed in achieving your long-term goals and dreams.
Here are 2 helpful guides you should check out:
- Why Delayed Gratification is Important to Your Success
- How to Become Better at Delaying Gratification
5. Negative thinking and doubts
Everyone has negative thinking and doubts. That’s normal and common. Nobody can be 100% positive all the time.
But to achieve extraordinary success, you must learn how to handle your negative thinking and doubts that are going to stop you.
The point is that most people let their thinking control them rather than them controlling their thinking.
They focus more on negative things such as…
- “What if I fail?”
- “What if things not working out?”
- “I can’t do this.”
- “I lack the talents and skills.”
- “It is impossible to do this.”
- “The market is too crowded.”
- “The competition is too high.”
- “Too many have tried and failed.”
Or they doubt themselves. They doubt if they can do it. They doubt their ability and focus on the problems rather than the solutions.
And this is what paralyzed most people from moving forward.
Let’s face it, we all want to be successful. We all want to be financially secure. Taking savings as an example.
We all know we need to save, either for emergencies or for investment. But why are most people not saving or fail to stick their plan?
It’s simple, they will tell you they don’t have the money. Or they will tell you they will save when they have it.
This is exactly the kind of mentality that prevents people from saving more money.
The same applies to everything in life. Why are you not pursuing your goals and dreams?
Think about it. If you are 100% committed, you will find a way. But if you are not determined, you will find an excuse.
This is why you need to change your thinking.
Instead of thinking you don’t have enough for savings, think of how you can come up with a way to do it.
Perhaps, you can start small and save just $1 a day? Or maybe you can cut down on your daily expenses like stop drinking expensive coffee and brew the coffee at home yourself?
Your thinking will determine your life.
So, focus and think about the solution, not the problem. This is why you need to get rid of negative thinking and your doubts that stop you.
How to stop thinking negatively
Now, getting rid of negative thinking is challenging, but it doesn’t mean it’s not doable. You just need to be aware of the thoughts that are running in your head.
Here are some guides to help you stop your negative thinking:
- How to Get Rid of Negative Thinking
- 13 Negative Habits You Must Dump to Live a More Successful Life
- The 10 Types of Negative Self-Talk You Must Give Up On
6. Procrastination and inaction
The next thing that prevents most people from achieving success is procrastination. Yes, your inaction can destroy your dreams.
I believe we all have dreams. We all have an ideal life that we want to live. The problem is that we are just unwilling to take the necessary action to create the life that we desire.
Procrastination can be a serious roadblock that stops most people from achieving their goals.
How many times did you put off your goals and dreams?
You know you need to get the work done, but you just don’t do it. You wait until the next day or you tell yourself that you will do it ‘later’, but ‘later’ just never arrives?
As long as you don’t get rid of procrastination, you will delay your success to a later date.
And beware, sometimes, later can become never. I bet you don’t want to live with regret, right?
Hence, learn what is causing you to procrastinate and get rid of this bad habit right now.
How to beat procrastination
I believe that procrastination is not the cause. It is merely a symptom.
Think about it, why do you procrastinate? Why are you not taking action?
For example, I want to maintain my fitness, but I don’t like to run. So, whenever I decided to go for a run, I feel boring and I’m not motivated to do it.
After I found out exactly WHY I procrastinate, I switch my plan from running to playing sports, badminton in particular.
I discovered that I’m not a passionate runner and I found running to be boring. Instead, I enjoy team sporting. And this is why I play badminton at least once a week. With friends, of course.
Once you identified the cause and overcome the problem at its core, procrastination will never be a problem again.
Hence, find out what causes you to procrastinate and eliminate the problem at its core. And you will get rid of procrastination once and for all.
Read this guide: Top 10 Reasons Why Do People Procrastinate and How To Overcome It
7. Unwillingness to take risks and make a change
In order to achieve extraordinary results, you need to make a change. You must dare to take risks to do that.
This is because if you keep doing what you have always been doing, you will be getting what you always get.
For your results to change, you need to change.
The thing is that most people don’t dare to take risks and make changes. They are too afraid of the uncertainty and they rather cling to what they have been doing all the while.
I love this quote below:
“A ship is always safe at the shore, but that is not what it is built for.”
Yes, it is safe to be in your comfort zone and do what you have always been doing, but that is not what you are built for.
If you want to get to a different place, you need to let go of where you are and move forward.
You can’t expect things to be different if you keep doing the same thing.
There is a saying, “Life is like the monkey bars: you have to let go to move forward.”
Therefore, build up the courage to let go and move forward. It doesn’t matter if you fall, after all, it’s just experience.
How to take risks, build courage and grow your confidence
First, understand that to achieve something you have never had, you need to do something you have never done before.
In other words, you need to change your move or your plan or your daily actions so that you can create a different and more successful result.
Second, it is not about taking blind risks. It is about taking calculated risks. You don’t jump into the water if you know you can’t swim. You can always learn to swim first before you dive in.
Here’s a good read about taking calculated risks from SmallBizTrends.com:
How Entrepreneurs Can Take Calculated Risks
Next, learn to grow your level of confidence. If you want to be courageous and take bolder steps, you need to have the confidence to do so.
Apple these 11 tips to improve your confidence from LiveYourTrueStory.com:
11 Easy Ways to Build Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem
8. Not taking in new ideas and improving
Another one of the common factors that hold most people back from achieving success is their unwillingness to take in new ideas for improvement.
Things are constantly changing. And if you are not willing to adapt and make a change, you will be quickly become obsolete and out of business.
I still remember about 30 years ago, there was such a thing as a typewriter. Back then, we didn’t have computers. And after the launch of personal computers, everything changed.
The typewriter job became obsolete and vanish from the market. The same goes for smartphones like Motorola and Ericsson.
If you don’t constantly improve and take in new ideas, you are holding yourself from succeeding.
On the contrary, opening up yourself to the world and make it a habit to learn and keep improving can make you more successful.
Remember this meaningful quote from Charles Darwin:
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
This is why you must learn and improve yourself each day. Read books, study the works of others, attend classes and seminars, and soak up as much knowledge as you can.
While knowledge can’t guarantee your success, having no knowledge will guarantee your failure.
How to learn and consistently improve yourself
One thing I know for sure, you can’t achieve success with your current level of knowledge and expertise. If you want to achieve greater success and become extraordinary, you must play the game like a champion.
Look at the sports world. Why do you think extraordinary players like Lionel Messi and Kobe Bryant train every day? Well, they understand the importance of improvement and they train as hard as they can.
The same goes for everything in life. If you want to do better, no matter it is in relationships, finances, career, or your business, you need to improve yourself.
Below are some articles that can help you do better in life:
- 31 Little Things You Can Do to Improve Yourself Every Day
- How To Improve Yourself Everyday Through Benchmark Goals
- 13 Great Ways How to Improve Your Life and Live Better
9. Inability to learn from feedback and bounce back
When you strive for success and pursue your dreams and goals, one thing I can guarantee is that you will encounter challenges, roadblocks, obstacles, and fail.
But failure doesn’t mean what you want to achieve is impossible. It is just that you need to develop the ability to learn from your failure and mistakes, and then bounce back again.
A lot of people fail to learn from their mistakes and failures. As a result, they never grow. And when they do it again, they receive the same outcome, failure.
Never let your failures and problems stop you from reaching your goals. Make it your mantra to constantly grow and learn from your experience.
So, what if you fail? Well, get back up and do it again.
When Thomas Edison was asked about his failures, he said he didn’t fail, but instead, he discovered 10,000 ways that didn’t work.
You have to adopt a similar attitude.
There is no such thing as a failure, only feedback. Either you win, or you learn.
That’s how successful people make it. They don’t take failure as an answer. They learn from their mistakes and failures. And they grow their experience.
The more experience they gain, the more successful they become.
How to handle failure and bounce back stronger
First, understand that failure is necessary to succeed. As I have explained in the first point, failure is not an obstacle, instead, it is an experience for you to grow wiser, better, and stronger.
Read this article and you will understand why failure is so important to your success: Why You Need Failure to Be Successful in Life
Extraordinary people have a very high level of resilience. Meaning, they can recover and bounce back quickly when they encounter failures.
And you have to develop the same ability as well. Here’s a guide to help you build your resilience:
3 Fundamental Principles How to Turn Failure Into Success
10. Giving up and quit
I guess I don’t have to explain this further, do I? What’s holding most you from succeeding in life? You give up and you quit.
Well, maybe not you, but most people out there.
Most people choose to give up and quit when things don’t work out for them. When they face difficulties and they don’t know how to solve the problem, they decided to give up and then quit.
Think about your first business ideas or business venture. What happened?
I can guess that you quit, right?
That’s exactly what happened to most people out there.
We take things too lightly and we are not committed and determined to the things that we want.
Instead of finding solutions and doing everything we can, we choose the easy way out – quit.
Don’t let this happen to you. If you are serious about achieving great success in whatever you do, you must be 100% committed and promise yourself that you will never quit.
When Stephen King started his career as a writer, he has to work multiple jobs to support his family while pursuing his passion. He was so poor that he had to borrow clothes for his wedding. And when he submitted his work to publishers, all he got was rejection letters.
King received 60 rejections before he sold his first short story, “The Glass Floor”, for just $35. After seeing no success from his work, he decided to throw one of his manuscripts away, but his wife took it. That manuscript was the novel “Carrie”, which launched King’s writing career to stardom.
King then went on to sell millions of copies of his books and became a multi-millionaire.
We often heard stories of how ordinary people choose to persist on and never give up on their dreams, and eventually, they become successful and achieve extraordinary results in life.
But this can only happen if you decided NOT to give up. Don’t quit.
How to not give up and press forward
Mistakes and failures are inevitable. You will make mistakes and you will encounter failures. But you have to understand that you shouldn’t let your failure defines who you are.
Instead, you must learn to learn from your failures and continue to move forward.
If you want to learn how you can become more persistent and not give up on your goals and dreams, follow my 7 steps process:
How To Not Give Up On Your Dreams: The 7 Steps Process
Conclusion
This is a long article and I hope you enjoy reading it. More importantly, I hope you have learned the 10 common things that hold you back from achieving great success in your life.
And now that you know what is preventing you and stopping you from greatness, it is time to get rid of them and become a champion.
Do you think identifying these 10 roadblocks are helpful to your success?
Let me know what you think in the comment section below.