David Mark Podcast Insights

As any successful person will honestly admit, failure happens, and we’ve all had our fair share of it. But from each failure, we learn two equally valuable lessons. One, that there was at least one reason we failed; and two, that we can rebound from that failure.

So, why do we fail? And how do we fix it?

Related: Why Some People Fail and Others Succeed

According to Shiv Khera, author of You Can Win, failures most often occur for one of seven reasons. And Harvey Mackay, best-selling author and business speaker, says each one can teach us something valuable, can show us how to avoid falling back into the same hole.

Here are the most common failure-causing problems and their solutions:

1. Lack of Persistence

More people fail not because they lack knowledge or talent but because they just quit. It’s important to remember two words: persistence and resistance. Persist in what must be done and resist what ought not to be done.

Try new approaches. Persistence is important, but repeating the same actions over and over again, hoping that this time you’ll succeed, probably won’t get you any closer to your objective. Look at your previous unsuccessful efforts and decide what to change. Keep making adjustments and midcourse corrections, using your experience as a guide.

Here’s how to be persistent.

2. Lack of Conviction

People who lack conviction take the middle of the road. But what happens in the middle of the road? You get run over. People without conviction go along to get along because they lack confidence and courage. They conform in order to get accepted, even when they know that what they are doing is wrong.

Decide what is important to you. If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing right and doing well. Let your passion show even in mundane tasks. It’s OK to collaborate and cooperate for success, but it’s not OK to compromise your values—ever.

Here’s how to speak with conviction.

3. Rationalization

Winners might analyze, but they never rationalize. Losers rationalize and have a book full of excuses to tell you why they couldn’t succeed.

Change your perspective. Don’t think of every unsuccessful attempt as a failure. Few people succeed at everything the first time. Most of us attain our goals only through repeated effort. Do your best to learn everything you can about what happened and why.

Here’s how to change your perspective,

4. Dismissal of Past Mistakes

Some people live and learn, and some only live. Failure is a teacher if we have the right attitude. Wise people learn from their mistakes—experience is the name they give to slipups.

Define the problem better. Analyze the situation—what you want to achieve, what your strategy is, why it didn’t work. Are you really viewing the problem correctly? If you need money, you have more options than increasing revenue. You could also cut expenses. Think about what you’re really trying to do.

Here’s how to learn from past mistakes.

5. Lack of Discipline

Anyone who has accomplished anything worthwhile has never done it without discipline. Discipline takes self-control, sacrifice and avoiding distractions and temptations. It means staying focused.

Don’t be a perfectionist. You might have an idealized vision of what success will look and feel like

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