How You Can Avoid Personal Failure

Business Problems are Personal Problems

After 25 years of working with organizations I’ve realized, I’ve never helped solved a business problem that didn’t have a personal problem at it’s root. Hidden inside of any business problem is a personal constraint. If you can remove the constraint, that problem usually solves itself. Understanding this principle, helps you tackle the spider instead of getting tangled in the web. Your business problems are probably a symptom of some personal issue. Solve that and life becomes much easier!

I just pulled out Napoleon Hill’s 17 Keys to Success. He mentioned 25 major causes of personal failure:

1. The habit of drifting through life without a major definite purpose
2. Meddlesome curiosity about other people’s affairs
3. Inadequate education
4. Lack of self discipline
5. Lack of ambition
6. Ill health due to negative thinking or poor diet
7. Unfavorable childhood influences
8. Lack of persistence and follow through
9. Negative mental attitude
10. Lack of emotional control
11. The desire to get something for nothing
12. Failure to reach decisions promptly
13. One of more of the 7 basic fears: poverty, criticism, ill health, loss of love, old age, loss of liberty, death
14. Poor selection of a spouse
15. Over caution or lack of caution
16. Poor choice of a vocation
17. Indiscriminate spending of time and money
18. Lack of control of the tongue
19. Intolerance
20. Failure to Cooperate with others in a spirit of harmony
21. Disloyalty
22. Lack of vision or imagination
23. Egotism and vanity
24. Desire for revenge
25. Unwillingness to go the extra mile

Deal With The Root Not The Fruit

You’ll find one of these 25 personal problems at the root of any business problem you have. If you’ve got problems, stop playing with the fruit of the issue and deal with the root. You always grow from the inside out. If you can conquer the inside, the outside generally takes care of itself. When you get better, your business gets better!

Which of the 25 do you need to work on?