One of my favorite pastimes is studying individuals. Their mindset, character, actions and attitude towards life. Trust me, these things are easy to see if you pay attention over a period of time.
This article is inspired by a few individuals I observed over time. From observing their attitude and disposition toward life, their mindset, actions and things they say, I must say I have learned quite a lot.
Certain character flaws will hinder you from becoming successful.
1. Lack of Integrity
It’s like a currency. And everybody knows a man of integrity. They also know those who lack integrity. I don’t know why but there are people who struggle with this. A lack of integrity will ensure you don’t go beyond a certain level. In fact, doors will close at you before you even get to it. Integrity is when your words and actions align. When you say you will do a thing or you will be at a place a certain time and you do it. With integrity, people take you for your words and are rest assured that if you already gave your word, then you will keep it. If you’re always breaking promises, not keeping to agreement, people will learn not to trust you and what’s success without integrity?
If you have remained at a spot for too long, no growth, no big breaks.. kindly visit your integrity history.
2. Poor Time Management
I’ve seen people who struggled with this one. There’s the popular saying with my maternal grandpa, “time lost can never be gained.” Your time is your life. Seconds become minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades and centuries. I always tell people I’d rather lose money than lose time. One can be gained back, the other, cannot.
With time, you have to manage it so well that you’re better off doing all you can within the soonest possible time so you don’t end up using time for something else to do what you should have done earlier.
I know someone who has absolutely no respect for time. They get into a building and forget themselves. They don’t know when to end a conversation and move to the next thing. They spend over 30 mins on a 3 mins call and spend 2 hours hanging out with time wasters they shouldn’t spend more than 5 mins with. And when they’re done, they realise they missed an important meeting or appointment and start rushing to catch up. Successful people are mindful of their time and will not let you waste it. By the time the time waster finally catches up with the meeting or appointment, they realised they were left behind and the other guys moved on without them. I’ve seen this play out times without number.
3. Lack of Focus
Some people say focus means focus on a course until successful. This comes very easy for some and not so for others. Someone was sharing a story of some of his friends who according to him were now doing well and much better than the last time he saw them. This is even putting it mildly. If I want to be blunt, I’d say they were doing much better than he was at the time he was telling me. And when he finished I told him I made an observation. “Something is consistent with all these people you mentioned.” They stayed on a course. They showed up consistently until they broke through the ceiling.
Now this person telling the story is the opposite. Today it’s this business, tomorrow, it’s another. Always chasing the wind on impulse and not being able to gather. Now the person’s response to this issue I highlighted brings us to our next character flaw.
4. Not Teachable
When you do not have a learning mindset, you quickly become obsolete because the world and time will not slow down for you. No one knows everything. And even if you know a lot, there’s always someone out there who knows more than you. How do you even learn if you’re not teachable? I know someone who is more concerned about not being insulted than they are about making positive changes where it’s required. They don’t take corrections at all. So instead of taking corrections, it’s easier for them to hammer on the fact that you just insulted them. This may sound funny but people like this exist. Over time, people sit back and watch them heading in the wrong direction without trying to do anything. Why? Because they’re incorrigible. Some would blame it on pride and arrogance. They may be right because pride and arrogance blinds.
5. No Team Spirit
Team spirit always comes to play when you’re working with a group or partner(s). It means a united front. It means agreement. It means support. A lack of this is a huge character flaw and exposes others in the team to scorn, ridicule and embarrassment.
I have worked with someone who would never hesitate to throw you under the bus at any given opportunity just so they look good, innocent or play victim. So many times, they’d slander you in public or not stand up for you but would quietly come behind to try and make it up. They always try to make up in private. Never in public. Sometimes you’d both work out a plan and when it’s time for execution, they do a completely different thing from what you planned, leaving you looking stupid. With time, no one will want to work with such a person. This is a terrible character flaw that borders on a very low self-esteem.
6. Disorganised
One thing about such persons is, it shows in their environment. They’re associated with clutter. Cluttered living conditions, cluttered house, cluttered car. Everywhere, disorganized. These things have a bearing on the mind. It will affect the way you think. Heck, you can’t even think straight in a disorganized space. People like this, miss appointments, go late for meetings, forget things, waste people’s time, mix up customer’s orders.. the list is endless.
7. Not Building Life Relationships
Now, there’s life outside of business. We’re all humans. And there’s need to balance things up. Picture a situation where the only thing you need people for is business. The only people you call on the phone or visit are business partners or clients. Then you’re in a personal situation and of course, you can’t start calling business contacts for such but then you can’t even count on family and friends because you haven’t built that kind of relationship with friends, neither have you been there for friends and family as you should have, to expect them to just turn up for you. If I didn’t witness this with someone, I won’t be writing this.
There’s an Igbo proverb that says, “the one who has people, is the one who’s truly wealthy.”
A successful banker died in a helicopter crash recently and it was evident with those who showed up to his farewell reception that he had built relationships for life with people. He related with associates, clients and customers as humans. I have also seen someone in a situation where they needed a sorte and they had no one to call.
Be intentional about your success.
