Why do some people fail but others succeed in life? This is a million-dollar question that, unfortunately, has simple answers. Success is all about developing new habits and relying on those habits to stay competitive while putting your leg after the other until you have achieved what you desire.
Whether you are trying to start a business, save money or take control of your finances, get a college degree, or simply lose weight; there are important factors that will determine your success or failure levels. People who fail usually are the ones who never understand what success means to them and the true cost of achieving it.
It is not a single element that can be attributed to why people fail in life. Instead, it is a combination of many factors that if not checked, can knock you down and make it impossible to cope with real-life problems.
This article will go over the reasons why people fail in life and what you can do differently to secure your sit among the achievers. Without further ado, let’s get started.
1. People fail in life due to competition
A lot of failures in life can be attributed to extreme competition. Nature has a selection process that ensures that only the best make it to the top. No matter what you are trying to do, there is someone somewhere who is trying to do the same thing. For example, if you are starting a cookie business, you are not the first or last person to start a cookie business. There are successful businesses already in your market that are making money selling cookies. The moment you choose to make this cookie business, you automatically decided to compete with those businesses.
The only way you will survive this competition is to make better and tastier cookies than your competitors. On top of that, you will need to attract the right customers and spend a lot of resources attracting and convincing your customers to buy from you. You cannot win unless you are better than your competitors.
People fail in life because they assume there is no competition against them. Even if you are not starting a business or running one, there is always someone you are competing with. For example, if you are trying to save money, you are still competing with someone. For every decision you make, you always have to choose between A and B. That is you have two conflicting thoughts in your mind that direct you to choose one thing over the other. You end up going with the dominating thoughts.
If you are trying to save money but spending temptations become your dominating thoughts, you will spend the money. That is how it works. It is a competition between your inner thoughts that determines the decision you make. If you are going to succeed, you need to support and focus on the thoughts that align with your goals. In other words, you need to become the master of your thoughts. Many people never get to this point.
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2. Lack of proper planning
A wise man once said, “a project that is well-prepared is always easy to execute.” No matter what you are intending to do, you must have a proper plan of
- What it is you want to do
- How you are intending to do it
- How long it will take
- The resources you will need, and more importantly,
- The end results.
The more information you have about how to reach your destination, the higher the chances you will succeed. A plan is like a blueprint of every step you will take from start to finish. At any point in time, you will know what you must do and how to do it. People fail because they lack proper planning. They think about something and start working on it without a plan.
The probability of failing goes higher when forks do not have a complete understanding of what it is they are doing and why. Every step you take is like a gamble when you don’t have a plan. If you ask successful people how to succeed in life, they will tell you that you need to slow down and make a plan. This is because a plan is everything. Unless you are very lucky, you will find it difficult to succeed without proper planning.
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3. Lack of skills and proper training
Having a plan and less competition is not enough to secure absolute success. The lack of skills and proper training is another factor as to why most people fail in life. What you want to achieve requires some work that can be simple or difficult to attain depending on what you want. For example, the skills needed to start a tech business might be difficult compared to the kind of skills you need to manage your finances.
Both undertakings will require that you learn and apply what you learn. However, these adventures will take different resources and time due to their complexity differences. People fail because they lack the training and skills necessary to achieve what they want. Even if you only want to learn how to manage your finances, you will still face a lot of difficulties due to the lack of skills and proper training.
4. People fail in life because they cut corners
Many people fail because they cut corners. Instead of following the proper steps necessary to the books, some individuals choose a faster route which leads to failure. Even if you have a plan that is designed to work, you will not succeed unless you follow it.
Having a plan does not mean it cannot be changed. Yes, you can change your plan as long as you have reasons to do so. A big mistake people make is to toss their plans and chase wild hunches without proof of success. Others rush their designs or do illegal stuff to reach the market faster due to competition. Cutting corners cause you to miss important steps which amplifies your failure rate.
It takes time to design a great product and market it to the right people. As long as you follow the proper steps and avoid doing illegal stuff, you can surely reach success. But, the chances of success are slim when you start cutting corners. Eventually, the truth comes out and you are faced with reality.
5. Not knowing that it takes time to succeed
Every success big or small takes time. A wise man once said, “It takes many years of hard work to become an overnight success.” The point here is that you cannot start something today and realize success tomorrow.
Many people fail because they never realize this principle or make peace with it. A few months into the project, they start losing motivation or faith in their abilities to make it work. Others conclude that something is not possible after facing a few setbacks. If you ask founders of great companies that you ever heard of, they will tell you that they never thought their companies would be as big as they are today. Some of the founders started these mega companies (Amazon for example) in their garages putting pieces together one at a time. A few decades later, they are some of the biggest companies in the world.
The truth is that every day comes with a few challenges and you are presented with new problems. The more problems you solve, the closer you get to your destination. Success is for the brave and those who are willing to do whatever it takes to reach it without giving in to failures.
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6. Lack of resources and support
During your quest for success, you will solve endless problems and meet an unmeasurable amount of setbacks and fights. Some of these setbacks will require a lot of support such as financial support and human capital. Without these resources, you might find it difficult to stay competitive in this fast-changing world.
A lot of people fail due to the lack of resources and support. That is why most businesses never make it to the second year and others stay small. Yes, there are some business owners who choose to keep their businesses small because they want absolute management and decisions making abilities. Others stay small or cease to exist due to the lack of resources.
More resources give you the help you need to grow. For example, in order to create a few more business branches, you need a ton of money. Not only that you will set up physical infrastructure, but you will also be entering into a different geographical area with might require a lot of marketing resources and different competitive strategies. You cannot achieve these goals without financial support and ready-to-work human capital.
7. Underestimating the complexity and effort needed to succeed
Not everything is about resources and support. There are important factors that determine who wins and who succeeds. The complexity of your goals and your level of understanding will determine your success or failure rate.
Some people underestimate how complex their goals are and the mental and physical capacities they require. As they go through their processes, they realize that things are much harder and mentally demanding than they anticipated. What happens next is the thought of giving up. If you talk to people who have failed, you will often hear that things were impossible or that they chose the wrong path.
It is possible that one can end up in the wrong career or niche which can make it harder for that individual to succeed. However, being in the wrong niche does not guarantee failure. It simply means you will have to work harder than anyone else to succeed. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to pay the price. Sometimes giving up is much easier and safe than continuing the path. The moral of the story is to never underestimate your enemy no matter how weak you think your enemy is. As long as there is a fight to be made, you should always be fully prepared.
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8. People fail due to the lack of adaptation
The world is changing at a fast rate. New inventions come and go every day. What we know today will no longer apply tomorrow. In a span of a few years, a lot of technologies became obsolete. For example, in one decade, 3G and 4G technologies became a big thing and disappeared. Due to these new changes some companies had to combine resources to stay in the market. That is how T-Mobile ended up buying Sprint for $26 billion. That is how fast we are moving into the future. Unless you can adapt to new changes, you cannot survive.
This is a simple example that applies to businesses. People also fall into the same category. What you know today will no longer be important or needed tomorrow. You will need to learn new things and adapt to changes as they come. People fail because they never adapt to changes. In order words, they get stuck in the past which completely crashes them.
For example, if you were an employee in the telecommunication industry, you had to learn how 5G works, apply new concepts, and figure out how to market yourself in the industry. But, if you only knew 3G and decided to stick to it, you are probably unemployed or fighting to survive. That is how it works.
Think about the online marketplace. Physical stores were a big thing before the rise of Amazon. Once Amazon started taking over, thousands of businesses(small and large) closed their doors. They find it difficult to stay competitive. Those who are still in business had to boost their online presence to increase sales. Change is inevitable and those who cope with it get to live another day.
9. Lack of motivation and discipline
Motivation is an essential factor that determines your level of success. You can not get started or keep going if you are not motivated enough by what you are doing. Every day to you would be like a nightmare. Lack of motivation is a major cause of failure for millions of people. Even if you are doing something you are passionate about, you can’t succeed unless you have the motivation to make it work.
Motivation also goes together with discipline. Discipline is what keeps you going when you no longer have the motivation. Things will get tough and your motivation will fade away. Once you hit this level, you will need to rely on your discipline. Most people fail because they lack discipline. You are more likely to give up and fail when you lack the motivation and discipline to keep going.
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