Things You Must Avoid To Become Successful
This may come as a surprise to you, after all, we’ve been taught since we were kids to study hard, ace all exams, and get that diploma, all these to achieve the ultimate goal to become successful.
1. Being too Smart
News flash — successful person most likely perform less under pressure! Too much brain work and information overload could cause attention deficit trait, or ADT. When you’re too smart, your brain processes things differently. You have a huge working memory capacity compared to others, but some research show that because of this curse gift, the intelligent ones tend to underperform and succumb under the not-so-smart crowd.
Scientifically speaking, the choking-under-pressure feeling you get when you’re nervous, or the anxiety you get during a stressful situation, come from the very same spot as your working memory. Thus, the bigger your working memory is, the more susceptible you are to pressure, anxiety, and overall mental breakdown. Maintain a peaceful mind.
I’m not saying you need to dumb it down or become stupid to achieve success. This might be difficult for those who are innately smart, but tone it down just a little. Avoid over analyzing situations, instead, stick to your natural instincts, and don’t be afraid of becoming vulnerable.
2. Getting ahead of Yourself
So you came across an ad about a summer vacation to Asia. You then let out a heavy sigh, stopped whatever you were doing, and you just imagined yourself sunkissed on a hammock sipping fresh coconut juice. After a couple of minutes visualizing that perfect moment, you just continued on with your life, and did nothing to make that dream happen. Does this ever happen to you? Apparently, strongly dreaming and wanting something to happen, does the opposite to motivation.
It makes you lazy. It gives you just enough satisfaction to just settle inside that tiny cocoon of yours. Overcome from laziness. That’s why that big promotion you are dreaming of, never happens. Optimism has its own advantages, but motivation is not one.
3. Forgetting to Walk the Talk
Speaking of getting too far ahead of yourself, just like announcing your New Year’s resolution to your family, friends, and Facebook; instead of this act encouraging you to beat the hell out of those goals, you’re just (again) becoming lazy and complacent. Publicly announcing your goals gives you satisfaction as if you were able accomplish them. That’s how our brains work. What a killjoy — I know. Don’t let your brain feed from your fake accomplishments. You will never (ever!) succeed on anything.
4. Relying too much on Feedback
Are you that kind of person who frequently asks for approval and rely heavily on what others have to say? Do you take every single feedback, be it positive or negative, into account? Do you obsessively ponder on these feedback like popcorn? If your answer is yes, you now know why your colleague got that promotion instead of you.
Obsessing over feedback and aiming to perfect everything will just make you less effective. How? With the feedback lurking in your mind, it messes up the current information you’re processing.
Your brain can only process that much under pressure, and when that new information (positive or negative feedback) comes in, it just distracts you and makes you doubt yourself. Trust me, that’s the last thing you would want before a grand presentation with your boss.
5. Doing Everything by the Book
You’re living your life by the book, what could go wrong? Well, several things could go wrong. You become too comfortable and become unbeknownst of the good things slipping from your hands. Learn to work outside that little box of yours.
This will push you to do things that you’re unfamiliar with. I’m not saying you become a criminal and literally hide skeletons in your closet. Take risks and forget the script. You might have heard this one too many times but I’ll say it again. Life's too short. This is not the Lego movie. Burn that book and bury the ashes!
