Success usually takes longer than expected because of habits you can fix: judging your timeline by time instead of speed, working alone, staying vague about goals, avoiding risk and not being known. You may be on the right trajectory and still feel something does not add up. This list gives 15 reasons it may be taking so long, each with a way to correct it.
Read it as a diagnostic: the final test is to pick the one reason that plays the biggest role in your life right now and act on it.
Watch the full video here, or skip to the breakdown below.
The 15 reasons at a glance
- You overestimate where you are in your timeline (0:20)
- You failed to build a team and systems (1:21)
- You do not use other people’s money (3:32)
- You are not around the right people (3:43)
- You have not set, followed and tracked your goals (4:55)
- You lack the discipline to move the needle daily (5:58)
- You are not focused (7:03)
- You are not in physical proximity to success (7:43)
- You are not yet the person worthy of success (8:25)
- You do not expose yourself to enough inspiring information (9:16)
- You are invested in passive income instead of capital gains (10:52)
- You are not embracing enough risk (12:18)
- Nobody knows who you are and what you do (13:36)
- You are busy without being productive
- You are scared of success and of losing yourself (15:20)
- Bonus: What is your superpower?
1. You overestimate where you are in your timeline
Success is not around the corner. It sits at the end of the highway you are on, and you probably expect it sooner than it is due. The mistake is waiting for the target to come to you instead of increasing your speed toward it.
The more you learn about the world, the clearer it becomes how far you still have to go. Do not focus on time. Focus on how fast you move. Time flows the same for everyone, but people do not move through it at the same pace, and that is how some do in one year three to five times what others do.
Take control of your timeline by taking control of how fast you move.
2. You failed to build a team and systems
Doing everything yourself feels natural because you do it best. Then comes a brutal wake-up call: even at full capacity, you cannot hold that rhythm long enough to win. No matter how brilliant you are, you will lose out over the long term to people competing as a team.
Teamwork is a different beast. The golden rule is to do what you said you would do. That builds predictability, and predictability lets you build self-sustaining systems. If your people care about the destination as much as you do, they will improve those systems for you, and once everyone clicks, growth turns exponential.
3. You do not use other people’s money
This separates people who climb two or three steps of the wealth ladder at a time from those who climb one at a time. It also covers other people’s know-how, connections and businesses.
A lone wolf is fine for hunting rabbits. To take down a woolly mammoth you need new tools and a pack. Other people’s money can build wealth ten times faster. Learn to use banks, pitch investors, use crowdfunding and make genuine connections. Your own resources always cap how much growth you can finance, so let others take some of the risk and share some of the reward.
4. You are not around the right people
This is not only about people who can open doors. It is about people so committed to their own path that they push you to go harder. Some of their aura rubs off, and without certain mentors the writers say they could not dream as big as they do now.
Watching them move and hearing them state their vision forces your mind into a new gear, and the vision is always bigger in impact, action and end goal. The script quotes LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman: the fastest way to change is to hang out with people who already are what you want to become. Your real problem may be that you cannot yet think big enough, or connect the dots from now to that future.
5. You have not set, followed and tracked your goals
Many people move in a general direction without turning it into a process. They are like someone lost in the woods who figures that heading north will eventually work. Successful people use GPS, track time, check the weather and keep a progress calendar, so they know roughly when they will reach the other side.
The numbers in the script: 90% of the population has dreams and wishes, 10% has goals, and only 1% has a plan to hit them. That is what makes the 1% look extraordinary. Write rules for yourself and follow them every day.
6. You lack the discipline to move the needle daily
The secret is in what you do every day to get one step closer. You may be tired and burned out. Learn to rest, learn to focus on other parts of the process, but keep the process going.
People reach a point where they want to burn everything down and quit. What they miss is the progress made since they started. Zoom out and you see how far you have come. Your life is better today because of small actions and the days you did something even when you did not feel like it. Once the writers say they will do something, they keep at it unless the fundamentals have radically changed.
7. You are not focused
Put simply, you are easily distracted. The world is full of opportunity, but your brainpower is limited. In business this is called opportunity cost: time spent on something else is time taken from what matters.
Find the thing likely to have the highest impact on your life and make it your guiding light. Put on horse blinders and chase it relentlessly. Everything you consume and every action you take should line up with it.
8. You are not in physical proximity to success
Physical proximity to success exists. Statistically, you are more likely to become a billionaire in Silicon Valley than in Manipur, India. Being close brings deal flow and chance meetings with people who can play an active part in your growth.
The closer you are to the money, the more likely you are to make money. Hang out with rich people and you will eventually be rich. Hang around market-makers and you will learn to use the market.
9. You are not yet the person worthy of success
This means you do not yet have the skills for the tasks you set yourself. That is fine and part of the process. Like a video game, you must build an inventory of tools and experience before the next level, and you may think you are ready when the coming boss fight would hurt.
Life not putting you in front of the perfect opportunity yet is its way of not wasting it. Ask what tools you are missing and what your ideal team could do to get you to the next level. Then build those skills or hire people who already have them.
10. You do not expose yourself to enough inspiring information
The script believes in micro-learning: consistently taking in valuable information that stacks up over a lifetime. Getting one percent better every day has proven the most effective route to high returns, and knowledge compounds over time.
You never know where the missing piece will come from. One idea from an audiobook, a course or a mentor’s advice could be the click you need.
11. You are invested in passive income instead of capital gains
The biggest beginner mistake, according to the script, is chasing passive income early. If you have $25,000, that is nowhere near enough to build meaningful passive income. Put it down on a house, let a renter cover the mortgage, subtract all expenses, and you are left with about $200 a month. That is nice and builds equity, but it is not life-changing.
At this stage the challenge is turning the 25k into 250k. You do not lack passive income, you lack the money to buy passive income sources. Figure out the capital gains game first, then move into passive income. None of it works unless you find ways to consistently raise your income.
12. You are not embracing enough risk
Slow success is disappointing, yet fear has kept you away from the kind of risk that brings higher rewards. Perhaps you lack confidence in your ability, which is a reason to invest in yourself first. Perhaps you fear losing everything, which hints you got here through luck.
A wake-up call for the writers came when they realised that if everything went away, their minds and what they had learned would still be their biggest asset. Nobody can take away what you know. You can rebuild a team, buy new tools, find customers and create new products. Once that lands, your attitude to risk changes and you can chase bigger rewards.
13. Nobody knows who you are and what you do
However good you think your product or service is, people cannot buy from you or credit you if they do not know you exist. The smartest person alive achieves nothing by living in a cave and keeping their knowledge to themselves.
The likeliest answer is an awareness problem. If your work is as good as you say, it is a matter of getting it in front of as many people who need it as possible. If it is valuable, they will buy, tell friends and speak well of you.
People cannot buy from you if they do not know you exist.
14. You are busy without being productive
If you know what to do, do it. If you do not know, learn. There are two types of work: the kind that moves you toward your goal and the kind that keeps things stable.
If you are not progressing, you may be spending too much time on maintenance. The engine is running, but unless you put the car in drive and take the wheel, you will not get far. Learn to tell busy from productive and your view of what needs to happen changes.
15. You are scared of success and of losing yourself
It sounds outrageous, but as individuals we fear progress. Levelling up means effort and going into battle, and battle is dangerous. A preinstalled piece of software in your head tries to keep you safe: why change when we are safe now, even if not doing well?
To make the jump you become someone else. You keep the good, strip away the bad and evolve into the next stage of your identity. Your core does not change. You become something better. When the desire for more overcomes the fear of the unknown, you evolve.
Bonus: What is your superpower?
Ask yourself that, then bet everything on it. The jump you are looking for lies in your unique ability. Everything you have learned, been through, seen, heard and tasted adds up to a unique mix that is you.
Put that authenticity to work and you will succeed sooner than you think. Nobody can compete with you when the game is being yourself. Put your name out there, take risks under your own name and show who you are, and the script promises you will be rewarded.
Nobody can be a better you than you are.
Find the reason that fits you
Not all 15 will apply to you. The honest exercise is to find the one that plays the biggest role right now and decide to act on it, then return to this list whenever you feel stuck on a plateau.
The script ends with a question to the audience: which of the 15 is the main one holding you back?
FAQ
Why is it taking so long to succeed?
Common causes include overestimating where you are on your timeline, working alone, not tracking goals, lacking daily discipline, playing it safe and not being known. Success is at the end of the highway you are on, so raise your speed.
Should beginners focus on passive income or capital gains?
The script says capital gains. With about $25,000 you might net only $200 a month in passive income from a rental, so the early task is growing that capital before buying income sources.
What percentage of people have a plan for their goals?
According to the script, 90% of people have dreams and wishes, 10% have goals and only 1% have a plan to hit those goals.
How do you use other people’s money to get rich?
Learn to use banks, pitch to investors, try crowdfunding and build genuine connections. Other people’s money, know-how and networks let you build wealth faster than your own resources allow.
What is the difference between busy and productive?
Productive work moves you toward your goal, while busy work only maintains what exists. Spending all your time on maintenance keeps the engine running without going anywhere.
Keep reading
- 10 Reasons Why You’re Not Successful Yet
- 15 Daily Rituals for Cultivating a Growth Mindset
- 10 Reasons Why Success Scares People
