Why You Keep Failing | Brian Tracy

Hello, I'm Brian Tracy and today I want to talk to you about common reasons why people fail to reach their goals. As you become aware of procrastinating, you can overcome it and then turn it into execution. Do you find yourself pushing towards your biggest dreams and goals only to feel like you're not making any progress? I certainly have had that, or worse, that your best efforts end in failure. For millions of people, life can feel like a frustrating series of misses and stumbles and failures. But what will set you apart from the others will be your ability to keep going after your goal, no matter how difficult the road gets. The Great One Wayne Gretzky is remembered as one of the most dominant and successful athletes in the history of sport. I met him once in a parking lot when we were both shopping, but he's also known for his brilliant quote, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. So today I'll share my five tips five shots to take to ensure that you're able to keep shooting your shot and help identify why you've experienced failures and struggles along the way so far. The first reason that you keep failing, if you do, is that you fear failure. This is the worst of all is I'm going to share a big secret with you. At one point somewhere in your life, you're going to fail, fall short or miss out on a goal. Actually, you're going to fail over and over on your goals you're going to face hundreds of times. As a matter of fact, your level of success is going to be in direct proportion to your willingness to risk failure. So why waste your energy fearing something that is guaranteed to happen at least once in your life? The author Frank Herbert wrote in his famous Dune series that fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. In order to find sustained success, you must watch your mindset so that you don't view failure as a fear. If you develop the right attitude, failure will become a valuable learning opportunity. It will actually help you to be successful. When I coach high level businesses and executives, I always encourage them to develop the mindset that they only win or learn. They never fail. Each time you fall short, take some time to think about why it happened. Then you can change your strategy moving forward so that you'll have a better chance of success next time. When you aren't afraid of failure, you'll be able to confidently and quickly move towards your goals. Always ask, what did I learn? What did we learn? What will we do differently next time? Those Are two of my favorite words, always next time. The second reason you may feel like you're failing is that you might give up too quickly. Reaching your goals isn't always easy. In fact, it's probably never easy. But no matter what, you have to keep trying. The worst thing you can do is to give up at the first sign of trouble. And that's where most people go wrong. Sometimes giving up is tempting. It's the easiest way out. But when you're trying your hardest and you keep running into obstacles, you might want to throw up your hands and walk away. But during these times, it's important to remember the words of 17th century theologian Thomas Fuller, who said, the darkest hour comes just before the dawn. To be successful, you must take proactive steps that help you to stick with the goal. For example, you might be setting goals that are too ambitious. If you aren't reaching your goals because they feel overwhelming, try setting a more realistic, a smaller goal to start. We'll talk more about that in a minute. Third, you're afraid to ask for help. Another reason people fail and fall short is because they're afraid to ask for help from others. Human beings are social by nature, and that's why the famed psychologist Abraham Maslow identified being social, building esteem, and finding fulfillment as part of the five essential needs that humans must fulfill in order to thrive. Not only does asking for help increase your likelihood for success, it also helps you build the social relationships that will help you find meaning, purpose, and belonging in your life. Remember, whatever you're going through, hundreds, thousands of other people have gone through it. Think about all the people you know and pick up the phone or the email and say, have you ever been in this situation and what did you do? It's astonishing how many people have had the identical situation you have, and they'll say, ah, I had this problem and I did this and it's the breakthrough for you for the future. So ask yourself, who can you ask for help to reach your goals? Work on building a network of people who will be there when this stuff hits the fan. And the way that you do that is always offer to help others if they're having problems. Just say, if ever you have a problem of any kind, give me a call and let's see if we can work it out together. I also encourage you to find what they call an accountability partner. An accountability partner is someone who helps you reach your goals by regularly checking in on your progress. When you know your partner is going to be asking how things are going, you'll be more motivated to continue working towards your goals. Set a time each week, say like noon on Fridays, to get together and talk it over with your accountability partner and just share how you're doing. If you know that you have a regular time that you're going to share your ideas with your accountability partner, you'll be far more likely to actually succeed no matter what happens. If you struggle to keep yourself accountable, try finding someone who will really help hold your feet to the fire until you develop the confidence and motivation to move forward without their help. Another reason why many people continually fail is because they let external factors affect them too much. On the road to success, there will be countless distractions and detours and roadblocks and potholes. You're going to hear a lot of advice. Not all of it will be good and not all of it will be helpful. So it's essential that you learn to focus on what you control and not allow yourself to be distracted by external factors. The good news is you are entirely in control of your own life, including your attitude, your effort, and your energy. If you're struggling, remember these magic words. I am responsible. I am responsible. I am responsible. If it's to be, it's up to me. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. By choosing to actively focus on what you can control and not becoming a slave to external factors, you can remove distractions as you work hard to succeed. Finally, you keep failing because your goals aren't smart goals. The final reason why you may be failing is because you don't use this Smart goal formula that many people do. If you've been watching my videos or reading my work, you know that smart goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. Use this acronym to evaluate every goal you set. Make it your North Star on which you set your compass. If you don't have a clear plan and the discipline to follow that plan, you're doomed to repeat the same cycle over and over, over again. But you can break this routine and use Smart Goals so that you can reach your goals as quickly and as efficiently as possible. To learn more about how to set smart goals, check out my Smart Goals template linked in the description box below this Completely free and it can change your life. Now I'd love to hear from you. So my question today is what is the biggest reason that you keep on failing? Think about it and think about number one. Leave a comment below and I'll be sure to follow up with you. Thanks for watching. And remember, if you want to change your future. Take action. And take action now. If you enjoyed this video and feel it was valuable in teaching you about success principles, subscribe to my channel like this video and share this video with your friends. Don't forget to click the button on the screen for a free gift. Thanks again for watching.