3 Dirty Little Habits That Will Kill Your Entrepreneurial Dreams
If it seems like everyone else is succeeding but you -- you might be sabotaging your success with these bad behaviors.
By Matthew Toren •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
If you look around and see other entrepreneurs who are succeeding where you are not, you may want to look deeper. Sometimes our lives simply don't progress at the same rate as others.
However, if you're noticing a trend that your ship never seems to be coming in, you may be guilty of unconsciously engaging in one, or even all, of these three dirty little habits that will hold you back from greatness.
Related: Entrepreneurs Need to Stop Doing These 10 Things, Right Now
Do a self-assessment and see if you are practicing any of these destructive behaviors.
1. Excuses
He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. -- Benjamin Franklin
There's a saying that goes you can have excuses or you can have results, but you can't have both. Successful people know that there are a million and one reasons you can come up with to not do something if you want to find the excuse, but if you want to find results, you have to find the solution and push ahead.
If you find yourself coming up with a lot of reasons why you can't do something, why something isn't working, why someone has an unfair advantage or any other way you're excusing your lack of performance, you're engaging in a really bad habit. It's dangerous because excuses largely come from veiled lies we are feeding ourselves and others.
Don't fall for your own excuses. Be better. Next time you find yourself saying you can't, attempt to talk yourself into the right action, instead of out of it.
2. Procrastination
If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it. -- Olin Miller
Tomorrow is a lie. Great entrepreneurs and highly productive people know that you have to do today everything that is truly in your power to do. Action helps propel more action and more forward energy. You can amass great momentum by taking actions every day toward your vision. However, just like momentum builds on itself, so too can lethargy.
Related: Don't Delude Yourself. These 3 Common Behaviors Hold Your Business Back.
The longer you sit in procrastination, putting off a task or project for later, the harder and harder it becomes to mentally rise to the task of tackling it. Save yourself a lot of trouble and just start now. When you sit down and take action toward something on your to-do list, you'll realize how much you can accomplish with simple actions.
Don't procrastinate -- it will hold you back from success.
3. Complaining
People won't have time for you if you're always angry or complaining. -- Stephen Hawking
Perhaps more than any other dirty habit, complaining is a true killer. That's because when you complain, you are not only buying into your own excuses, but you're making them verbal and poisoning the well of people around you.
If you complain or are angry often, don't be surprised that most people won't want to be around you. The only people who will be are other complaining, angry people. Successful entrepreneurs don't whine and complain. If there's something truly worth complaining about, they're going to make the effort to change it, not get mad about it.
Like Joel Osteen says so perfectly, "If you cannot be positive, then at least be quiet."
