Why do we fail?

Humankind has an innate propensity to want to lead a successful life. To achieve their aspirations, individuals set goals, design plans, and undertake efforts. However, not everyone’s efforts succeed. Much of the time, we fail in achieving what we aim or struggle for. This is because the road toward sustainable and rewarding success is not a smooth one. Given that everyone has different objectives, perspectives and definitions of success, there is no single yardstick for success.

However, identifying the main causes of failure can help us in remedying our thoughts and strategies and improve the prospects of success. The question arises: what prevents us from fulfilling our dreams? It is usually a combination of cognitive, and social factors. Firstly, the toxic social psyche obstructs many. Our society is a dispiriting one and many people around us seek gratification by discouraging those who are struggling and subjecting them to venomous gossip. A large proportion of our society mourns others’ success and rejoices in their failures.

Against this backdrop, many aspirants succumb to the virulent whispers and give up the very moment they decide to change their lives. Secondly, the maverick souls fear social ridicule in case their effort does not amount to anything. They pessimistically envisage their failure and the subsequent shame they will be faced with from their retrogressive surroundings. Thus, instead of pursuing their dreams and ignoring the virulent prattle, many people call it a day without trying. Thirdly, we have become obsessed with employing minimalist approaches to our pursuits without realising that most times, overnight achievements through illicit strategies are unsustainable in the longer run.

This is mainly for two reasons: one, an effortless achievement loses allure in the eyes of the beholder. Two, successes achieved overnight, fail to prepare one for long-term challenges. In contrast, success achieved after undergoing the required process is lasting. The more time one’s efforts take to turn into fruition, the longer the success would last. However, we employ shortcuts and face ultimate failures because of our impatience. Fourthly, fear of failure and initial failures prevent individuals from pursuing their aspirations.

In our society, the term failure is heavily stigmatised and feared. It discourages one to undertake any efforts. Often those who dare to take initiative are unable to stay resilient in the face of initial failures. Without acknowledging that not all efforts always lead to success, we over-expect and overestimate our efforts so much that success is the only acceptable outcome in our minds. Resultantly, instead of learning from the failures and fixing deficiencies both in our attitude and strategy, we assume initial failures as final and subsequently switch to a passively flowing survival mode. Fifthly, other reasons behind failure include procrastination and inconsistency. Many around us lack sincerity and consistency in their efforts.

This is reflected in our growing obsession with procrastination, which leads to inconsistency. The improvised efforts laced with hesitation and delaying tactics on lame pretexts prevent us from materialising our dreams. Lastly, our preoccupation with thoughtless social approval contributes to our failures in life. Rather than pursuing a path with our aptitude and independent intuition, most of us seek societal validation. Blindly following society’s dictates results in inaction and ultimate failures because our society is discouraging and idle. The efforts with promising outcomes demand an undoing of socially imposed obstacles and ill-perceived personal bottlenecks. We must acknowledge that the efforts for success are undertaken with utmost sincerity, honesty, consistency, integrity, and independent judgment.