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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

3 of the Biggest Mistakes That Can Sabotage Your Success


Here are three of the biggest mistakes that can sabotage your success. The good news is that they can be easily remedied.

#1 Not taking action
Often it isn’t a case of not knowing what to do but rather indecisiveness. It’s like the story of the donkey which starved to death all because he couldn’t decide whether to eat the apple or the pear,
When you don’t make a decision or you choose to avoid making a decision you remain stuck. It’s only by making the decision and taking the action needed that you are able to move forward or make some form of progress. People often fear making the wrong decision but who’s to say what is right or wrong. Obviously we are not talking about moral issues or values here. If you make a wrong decision then just make a new decision.
The quality of our lives is not based only on the quality of the decisions we make but also by the number of decisions we make. The more decisions we make means we take more action and once we do that we begin to make more progress.
People can also remain stuck or inactive because they think for some reason that there actions won’t be great enough to make a difference. However, we need to remember that taking baby steps and forging forward will eventually bring us to the desired results.
"Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well." By Jim Rohn
In the movie, "The Shawshank Redemption", Andy Dufresne (played by Tim Robbins) managed to break through the wall of his cell by chipping away at the plaster bit by bit. It took him years but the reward was great - FREEDOM!
Now, Andy would never have succeeded if he didn’t have the right tool and the tool may have been small but it was the right tool for the job.

#2: Not having the right information
We live in an age where we are overwhelmed with information. We experience an information overload. The problem is that much of the information we receive can be misleading or just plain inaccurate.
And therefore it is vitally important to know where to find information you can trust.
Another problem is, and as strange as it may sound, we often do not seek expert advice. Yes, even advice from some “experts” may be wrong but we often don’t help ourselves by seeking advice from people who know nothing on the topic we are seeking advice from.
Sometimes those individuals will be quick to say they are not an expert in that field but at the same time others will nonetheless persist in giving their “expert” opinion. And let’s face it this does not help us in progressing forward, instead it creates a “bump” in the road.
So, to make the fastest progress in the shortest possible time, discover the best sources of information for whatever you are aiming to learn and stick to those sources.

#3: Not having an accountability partner
An accountability partner is someone who holds you accountable for your actions.
So, if for example, you attend a live training seminar or workshop, it helps to take your partner, your spouse or a very good friend with you. These are the individuals with whom you are going to have to interact with once the training is over and the harder, and hopefully more rewarding, work begins.
If they accompany you, they will have a better idea as to what is actually involved in the goals you have set for yourself and they will, more than likely, set goals for themselves too. You can then encourage and help each other overcome any obstacles that you might encounter.
When you are the only one that knows what goal you have set for yourself it becomes so easy to slack off when perhaps the going gets a little tough, but when you have accountability you’ll be more motivated to push through with your goals because you don’t want to be seen as a “failure” in someone else’s eyes.
One of the most effective accountability partnerships is when two or more of you have the same goal, this is where you will all want to pull your own weight.
When Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen were promoting "Chicken Soup for the Soul" they had a grueling schedule of back-to-back interviews. Mark Victor Hansen admits he was close to quitting at one stage but that Jack helped to spur him on.
When choosing an accountability partner you want some one who believes in you and who is not afraid to tell you the truth - even when it hurts.

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