Do you want to be that co-worker?

You know the one.

Who gave up caring about their work 15 years ago, but has become that boulder in the office – unmovable and ready to crush you with one wrong look.

How did they get there and how do you avoid a similar fate?

How do you become one of those weird wild people who actually enjoy their work? How do you live a life of success?

Well, if you’re stuck in one of these seven habits below, you are probably holding yourself back.

 

1. Not Caring Just Enough

Not caring just enough allows you to stay safe. It allows you to stay pretty and put together, instead of risking the mess that comes from going all out.

Sacrifice is messy. Vulnerability means leaving yourself open to having your hope dashed. It’s easy to keep your clothes clean if you’re never willing to dive for the catch.

Like running across cracking ice to save your kid, when pursuing your dream safety cannot be your top priority.

To guarantee un-success always have one foot in, one foot out. Then when the storm hits too hard you can jump back into the cozy cabin instead of learning how to ride the waves.

2. Being a Critic and a Cynic

Cynics topple new ideas like a 2-year-old stacking blocks.

Cynicism is a great tool to make sure you don’t care just enough. If you can find and focus on the faults, cracks, and crap of life, then you’re bound to never really create anything really worth creating. You’ll be able to pick the idea apart before you can even start.

3. Calling your Dream a Hobby

Calling your dream a “hobby” is the perfect strategy if you never want to achieve it. (click to tweet that)

When you call your dream a hobby you’re telling your friends, family, and most importantly yourself, that you’re really not in this for keeps. No, you’re just dabbling like a teenager who takes up guitar for three months before he moves onto Xbox.

4. Pursuing your “Hobby” in Isolation

If you pursue your dream in complete isolation it will be easier to give up.

Letting people in on your dream forces you to be accountable to it. (click to tweet)

If no one knows where you’re going, it’s easier to stop walking altogether. But if you tell a few trusted people about your destination, they might ask how they can help and if you’ve arrived.

5. Watching Elephant-Sized-Butt-Loads of TV

Don’t underestimate the profound effect a good 2-3 hours of real, fake, TV can have in reaching a life of Un-Success. Becoming obsessed with other people’s real, fake, scripted lives is a great way to not have to live your own.

6. Never Failing

The best way to have Almost-Success is to have numerous Almost-Failures. That way when things begin to look bleak, you can retreat instead of making a stand.

Mitigate risk and you mitigate success as well.

7. Never Helping Others be Successful

People who lack success in their own lives usually never help any one else with theirs.  Instead of helping others push through obstacles, they’ve become used to throwing more in their way.

When you help others succeed there’s this strange effect where you’re paid back somehow. Not because you asked for it, but because when you help others, they want to help you in return.

Plus when you help others succeed, you’re learning strategies on how to replicate it in your own life. The further and farther your friends go, the further and farther you’ll go with them.

Make the impossible feel possible. Success is too hard to grasp without letting these habits get in the way.

I would love to hear from you in the comments below: Do you relate to any of the unsuccessful tips? What one thing is holding you back from success?