The 7 Silent Killers of Success
There are many things that can hinder
your chances of success and achieving your goals and dreams.
We live in a rather dangerous world,
so you have to be not only wise, but careful.
“Attitude diseases” are deadly;
they will destroy all the good things you start.
I’m a pro on these because I’ve had them all.
So, I can give you excellent advice on how to spot them,
what they are, and the cure.
Here is the list of attitude diseases.
1. Indifference
The first disease is indifference—the shrug of the shoulder.
The person is not even concerned; they are just drifting.
There is one problem with drift:
you cannot drift to the top of the mountain.
You can not dift your way up to success.
Some people say, “Well, I can’t see getting all that worked up.”
But to be any kind of winner, you have to get worked up.
Here is the key to the good life:
Learn to put everything you’ve got into everything you do.
Whatever you are doing, pour it on.
It will either quickly open up into an opportunity
or reveal that you should be doing something else.
The delusion is thinking,
“If I had a better job, I’d really pour it on.”
That is a delusion.
Wherever you are, pour it on. That will help change your life.
2. Indecision
The next attitude disease is indecision, or mental paralysis.
A person can’t make up their mind, and it becomes a disease.
They say, “Well, I know I’m on the fence,
but what if I get off on the wrong side?”
Listen, after a while, it doesn’t matter. Just get off.
Any side will do.
The best way to live is to pick a direction
and go with everything you got.
You might ask, “But what if it’s the wrong direction?”
You will find out quicker.
A life full of adventure is a life full of many decisions.
The decisions that turn out to be wrong give you the experience
to make better decisions in the future.
Don’t see how many decisions you can get out of.
See how many you can get into.
That’s where the adventure is.
3. Doubt
Doubt is like a plague, and one of the worst forms is self-doubt.
A chronic self-doubter questions everything:
- “Will it last?”
- “Can I do that well?”
- “Can I make that much?”
- “Can I accomplish all that?”
You can imagine the damage this does to your future.
The key is to turn this coin over and become a believer.
There are many things to believe in,
but one of the major ones is yourself.
The understanding of self-worth is the beginning of progress.
4. Worry
If those three don’t get you, this one will.
Worry is a devastating disease.
It causes health problems, social problems, personal problems,
and family problems.
Worry long enough, and it will drop you to your knees
and reduce you to begging.
I used to be a super worrier.
It took me almost one year to kick the worry habit,
and it was one of the toughest years I ever spent.
But I finally got that monkey off my back
and discovered you can live the most incredible life free of worry.
Not free of challenge, not free of difficulty,
but free of worry.
My advice to you is to do what I finally did: Give it up.
It’s not easy, but it is worth it.
5. Over-caution
Some people will never have much because they are too cautious.
This is the timid approach to life.
I used to fear risk. I would say,
“What if this happens? If this happens, look at the fix I’d be in.
I’d better not try.”
This is the language of the poor.
What changed my life was discovering that it is all risky.
- The minute you were born, it got risky.
- Getting married is risky.
- Having children is risky.
- Going into business is risky.
- Investing your money is risky.
If you think trying is risky, wait until you get the bill for not trying.
You aren’t going to get out of life alive—that’s how risky it is.
Don’t ask for security; ask for adventure.
It is better to live 30 years full of adventure than 100 years safe in a corner.
6. Pessimism
Pessimism is the deadly disease of always looking on the bad side,
the problem side, and checking all the reasons
why something can’t be done.
The pessimist leads an ugly life.
They don’t try to figure out what is right;
they try to figure out what is wrong.
They don’t look for virtue; they look for faults.
When a pessimist looks through a window, they don’t see the sunset;
they see the specks on the glass.
To the pessimist, the glass is always half empty.
To the optimist, the glass is half full.
Why does the same measure affect people in two different ways?
It all depends on how you look at it.
Our lives are mostly affected by the way we think things are,
not the way they actually are.
As my mentor taught me, “Poor thinking habits keep most people poor.”
The mind is like a mental factory.
Whatever you think about all day pours ingredients into this factory.
- If you dump a barrel of “trash” (wars, riots, tragedies) into your mental factory every day, you cannot come out with a rich, dynamic, positive life.
- You might as well try making a cake with cement.
Stand guard at the door of your mind.
You must be wise and careful about what you think about
because that starts everything.
7. Complaining
The last disease is complaining—crying, whining, griping.
Indulge in this even slightly, and you might as well forget
the future because it’s going to forget you.
Spend five minutes complaining, and you have wasted five minutes.
You may have begun what is known as “economic cancer of the bone.”
It will haul you off into a financial desert
and let you choke on the dust of your own regret.
Just be on the lookout for the things that can destroy all the good you start.
The war is on. Make sure you are winning it.
