These are 9 Things I’ve seen sink some incredibly talented people:

1. Excuse-Making. There are no excuses in success - if you make it or don’t make it, it’s ultimately on you. If you are someone who comes up with endless reasons why things don’t work or can’t work, instead of finding solutions, you won’t make it.
2. Not Executing…Regularly. You can have the best ideas in the world, but if you don’t actually do something about them, you won’t go anywhere. Be someone who is a doer. It takes executing on things *regularly* to get ahead, because if you’re not, be assured other people are.
3. Lack of Self-Control. Unsuccessful people are not disciplined, easily distracted, procrastinate endlessly, get side-tracked, or want immediate gratification. Sit down, focus on one thing, and make it work.
4. Unwilling to Take Risks. You have got to take risks if you want to be successful…while you have to be smart about the risks you take, but you’ve got to take them to move ahead, it’s unavoidable. Sometimes you’ll win & sometimes you’ll lose on those risks, and that’s all part of forward progress.
5. An Unambitious Circle. Your social and friend circle should not be holding you back. Have people in your life who make you feel like you’re on fire, reaching for big things themselves or are actively encouraging you.
6. Impatience. Unless you hit the lottery or have some inheritance, to be successful, you have to play the long game. That means a lot of work happens behind the scenes before you reach your goals…and you can’t rush it. Impatient people end up giving up or quitting.
7. Fear. Most people *feel* fear - but successful people feel the fear and just keep going and push through it. Those that don’t succeed will hyperfocus on the fear - what might go wrong, what others will say, what might happen, and they let this fear hold them back from doing what they need to do.
8. Unwillingness to Learn. If you think you know everything, be prepared to fail. The only path to success is continuing to learn new things all the time. It doesn’t stop with your formal education because progress doesn’t stop…you have to constantly be learning, growing, learning.
9. Giving Up. If you’re going to do well in business, you are going to take some hits - financially, personally, and maybe even very publicly. Everyone gets hurt, angry, and frustrated by setbacks…but the ones that win get back on their feet and keep going.

   These are probably the top 9 enemies of success that I’ve seen. I’d be interested to see your thoughts and if people have others they’d add!

-Julie Gurner, I'm a doc of psychology