Article, "Reasons You are not as Successful as You Could BE"

I was surrounded by lazy, non believing, small thinkers so I had to get away from them all.  I joined the Navy to do just that.  Ironically one thing I hated about the Navy was I couldn't break out and was constrained to make very little money and slow advancement.  Once I got out the horse was out of the gate.  I worked my tail off during the day and studied my butt off at night.  The day I got my first job out of the Navy I was already planning for my second job and what I had to do to get there.  When I got my second job I was planning for what I had to do to get my third and better job.  I had a 10 year plan of where I wanted to be, and I executed it.

All the while during my career growth I worked with and left behind people who were "stuck" in that job for many years and are still there to this day.  They had no aspirations, nor desires to improve on their current situation.  They would just complain about "the man" and not making more money at their current job.  Nothing wrong with that, but from a success standpoint it's a killer.  I always tell people that your employer wouldn't hesitate for a second to fire you if they had to, so you need to have the same attitude.  Don't hesitate for a second to fire them and move onto somewhere that's more beneficial to you in the long run.

I've had two or three major setbacks where I fell back on my plan, but I immediately got back up and started again because I always KNEW I would be successful.

I now own a very profitable business and have a 10 year plan with it that I'm executing.  If it fails, or falls back, I guarantee you that I will get back up and keep going.  I WILL be successful, no matter what life throws at me.

I know that my drive is rooted in my childhood and being surrounded by the opposite of success.  However, I don't think you can make people driven to success, they either are, or they aren't.

Thanks so much for your thoughtful response Tony. Very inspiring. My dad was that way too.. so is my husband. 

I think the problem is who decides how successful a person "should" be? I hate the word "should" - it suggests that there is some clear metric when in many cases there is not. I "should" be more successful? My kids "should" behave better? Your dog "should" stop crapping on my yard? (OK, that last one, maybe). 

I find when people start to talk about the "shoulds" in their life, they stop working on the world as it is, and making the changes they would need to make.

Having said that, the problem I have with that article in particular is the assumption that success is acheived by individuals on their own. It is a common theme by successful people, and we are seeing it in the news a lot recently with Marissa Mayer and Sheryl Sandberg talking about success for women in the workplace. The recent cover story in Time had an interesting side piece about how Sandberg in particular (as she was the cover article) discussing how sponsors and luck (right place, right time) plays a BIG part of "success".

I'm guessing that the author is talking about reasons your small business is not successful (i.e. making a profit).

It is pretty much a list that covers the basics especially if your are in a rut and need a gut check. 

But if you do all those things your small business might still fail.

I agree with the first two paragraphs because what I consider successful is completely different than what you and others may consider successful.  Somebody who has a calling to be a teacher could be at the height of their success working with inner city children making next to nothing.

As for the last part, I certainly agree there are a lot of factors that can play into success with luck being one of them.  If I win the lottery, I will be financially successful but did nothing.  That's an example of 99% luck and 1% (or less) effort (buying the ticket).

However, I wouldn't overplay the luck side because individuals put themselves into positions to be lucky.  For example, you could say I got lucky by finding an investor who was willing to fund my company when I started it, and now I'm in a position where I'm buying him out.  Did I just get lucky in finding him?  Perhaps, but it's not like I was just walking down the street and bumped into him and he said, hey here's some money.  I worked by tail off for 15 years establishing myself as an industry expert and leader in my field.  I spend years going to college and spent close to 6 months developing a thought out practical business plan with a lot of industry research and support.  I did all that so I could present my idea in the best possible light to investors.  I "made" my luck.  If I wouldn't have done all that, he would have never given me a dime.

I'm not naive or arrogant in the sense that I've done everything 100% on my own, but I feel that thinking I can't succeed without others help and luck is a defeatist attitude that prevents people from even trying.  "the man" will always keep me down, so why try.  I know there are thousands of complex factors that play into success and failure in a business.  This is my third business venture, my first two failed miserably and one of them led me to personal bankruptcy 14 years ago.  However, because of MY attitude I got back up and tried again and again.

Interesting perspective GB. Thank you for your input. As a mom I've defined success in terms of my impact on my son. I do a lot of volunteering for activities that he's involved with that I certainly wouldn't be able to were I focussed on other areas. And had I not volunteered to organize them, they wouldn't exist. 

Interesting article.  I can really relate to #9...that's me.  I owned my own business about 15-years ago.  Was not a failure as I eventually sold the business but things just never took off for me they way they should have.  I was a classic time waster and because of it I was working (putting in) way to many hours and just not focusing on running the business the way I should have. 

I'm not lazy.  Similar to another poster here, I started working at tayoung age and I have never not worked a FT job since I was 15.  I just waste time, reading, socializing, surfing the net, posting on BT...

The luck side of things is not like the luck of a winning lottery ticket, or a roll of the dice. Yes, you have to put in the work. But, you could do all the same things that a "successful" person does, and because they happened to be at a party with someone that connected to them (and made connections for them), they are going to be more successful than you.

I think your point about the attitude one takes after a failure is a good one - it is important to make different mistakes each time, not to avoid mistakes (the only way to that is to not try to do anything in the first place!) - and to get up and try something different.

I see what your saying and don't necessarily disagree.  I guess my main point is more about working hard and putting yourself in more positions to be "lucky".

For example with sales people.  I had one that would make 10 calls a day and another that made 60 calls a day.  The one that made 5 didn't sell anywhere near as much as the one who called 60 and complained one day about not being as lucky as the other guy. <insert me rolling eyes at him>  Yeah, he was lucky in that he caught the right people at the right time, but he made that luck happen by calling a lot of people.

It may sound a little hippie, but I think true success is just being happy with who you are and where you are (along the same lines of what "should" be success).

I agree with the article that if you are unhappy with your "success", most likely it IS one of the 12 items mentioned.  I see it all the time.  But what is success?

When I first got into the working field 20 years ago, I figured I needed to work up from designer, to engineer, to manager, to team manager to owner of my own firm.  BUT, after a while, I realized that I didn't WANT to own my own company.  I saw how much effort it took and how little satisfaction it would be for ME to own my own company (not to say it's not gratifying for others).

I saw how they never worked out, never got to see their families, complained about missing their kids, etc. and figured that success to ME was a senior management position, but also a balance that with triathlon/free time, time with my wife and family, etc.

If I gauged success by how much money/power/influence I had, I probably fell short (and don't care).  I had my chance at that and turned it down.  I chose to gauge my success with a balance of work, family, healthy/active lifestyle, recreation...

Maybe it should be "the reason you are not meeting your goals" instead of "successful as you should be".  Splinting hairs,  perhaps.

Funny me too.  Brothers separated at birth?  Well, maybe not since I'm 6'7" and you are like 4'7". 

Finally read this.  OUCH.  I'm scared to look at it again! 

Now while I think about it I'll jump on Facebook....or Twitter.  Oh heck both.

LOL!!!

For me its always been about focus. I have the drive and ability but I am taken off course due to varying interests. From a work prospective I did quite well in sales but always hated it, so I pulled the plug and went back to school to become an electrical engineering tech, Its much more hands on so I am happier. I know that pushing the reset button has cost me a lot of money and if measured purely on a monetary level I am "less successful" because of it.

From a sports stand point I have never been an athlete, I work my butt off but Im not the best kayaker, or snowboarder, or mountain biker, or runner or triathlete but I bet that if I focused on just one of those sports I would be better. I had a friend try to tell me that I should drop tris as I just cant put in the time thats required to be competitive at it. While that may be true my measure of success was not placing on the podium, not being FOP or even MOP. I always just wanted to be out there, do my best and never give up.

That's a great attitude Dave.