-Lack of a specific purpose in life. You cannot hope to succeed in any field in your life if you don’t have a central purpose. If you don’t have a definite goal in your life then you will jump from one activity to another with no success. Almost 97% of people think and act this way. That’s why successful people, who have a clear goal in their life, are very few.

-Lack of education. Most successful people are “self educated" or “self made" as individuals. You can have five college degrees but if you don’t apply this knowledge, it’s a waste. What counts is the applied knowledge with a plan of action and not just knowledge. 

-Lack of self-discipline. Discipline means self-control. You must control yourself and decrease your negative habits and qualities. If you don’t conquer yourself, it will conquer you.

-Procrastination. This is one of the major causes of failure. Procrastinators wait for opportunities to come to them instead of seeking opportunities.  They think that someday the time will be right to act. That "right" time never comes.

-Lack of persistence. Most people are good starters but they stop when the first obstacles come. Obstacles are a chance to become better. They are ways to use your mind and improve yourself. Quitters cannot hope for success of any kind. 

-Being negative. If you are negative then your whole world is negative. Your subconscious mind tells you that you can’t do it. Your subconscious mind commands your conscious self that you “really" can’t do it.

-No risk at all. If you are extremely careful and take no risks, then you can’t expect to make the difference. There are many opportunities out there for you to grab.  Being over-cautious limits you to mediocrity and leads you toward failure. 

-Wrong selection of associates. This is critical. We cannot do everything ourselves. The colleagues we work with are capital for our business. Successful and intelligent partners are one of the keys to our own success. 

-Divide your actions. This is a typical mistake: Spreading your energy and efforts on multiple causes and not concentrating on one cause. Sooner or later you will realize that you will not succeed at any of them. 

-Lack of honesty. This is the master key to success. Without honesty, your credibility will vanish in no time and you cannot hope to expand and of course retain your business. People are not as stupid as you think. They can understand the fake, maybe not immediately, but in the long run they will go away and spread around the world negative messages about you.

-by Christos Varsamis

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