How You Can Go From Success to Failure in 3 Easy Steps (Don’t Do These)
Trust me. I’ve done it. I’ve gone from success to failure several times (I’m a slow learner).
One of my mentors, Jim Rohn, inspired me to write this post on how to fail. He said, “There are two ways you can learn about life: P.E (personal experience) and O.P.E (other people’s experience).
Allow me to spare you some personal angst and agony by briefly sharing my experience with you.
My life and business career have been like a yo-yo.
From my mid-20s to age 40, I grew a beautiful family and a successful career. Everything was going my way.
From my 40s to mid-50s, I lost it all.
From my mid-50s to today (mid-60s), I have gotten it all back and more: a loving and supportive wife, two beautiful grandchildren, and a freelance writing career that fulfills me.
You might be wondering, “What happened? How did you mess things up?”
Well, let me tell you what was my undoing and how you can lose everything if you follow in my footsteps (which I pray you won’t) in three easy steps.
Step 1: Don’t keep your ego in check.
As I climbed the corporate ladder and my prestige and pay grew, so did my ego — exponentially. As a manager, my unchecked love of self-alienated my staff and eventually cost me a job that paid me a very nice salary, along with a fat expense account and many other perks.
I lost so many key people due to my unchecked ego and arrogance in a three-year span that I resigned from my position before I was given my pink slip.
“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” — Quote from The Treasury of Quotes by Jim Rohn*
I wish I had learned this lesson before I crashed and burned.
Step 2: Blame others.
By blaming others when things weren’t going my way or turning out as I expected them to, I shifted the blame to everyone else. It was my employee’s fault, my boss’s fault, the government’s fault — everyone else but mine.
I finally realized the problem wasn’t them — it was me.
Because of this, trust quickly eroded within our organization, and people doubted my reliability and integrity. Our office became tension-filled and got worse by the day. I’m sure many of the employees dreaded coming into the office.
And word spread. People in my industry are frequently poached by competitors. It got back to me that many of my employees were looking for work elsewhere and not saying very nice things about me. Looking back, I can see why.
Step 3: Neglect your mental health.
After nearly seven years of erratic behavior, I was diagnosed with a serious mental disorder. I had suspected that I wasn’t thinking clearly, but I swept it under the rug, primarily because of the stigma attached to mental illness.
Fortunately, I was referred to a doctor who cared and helped me put my life back together. I will be forever in his debt. I wish I had sought help much sooner. I’ll never know what might have been.
But my story has a happy ending, and yours will, too — if you don’t follow in my footsteps.
The Mental Health Hotline is a free, confidential 24-hour hotline for anyone struggling with depression, anxiety, or any mental health crisis. Call 866–903–3787 for help.
Don’t go it alone — there are people who care.
- Affiliate link to the book “The Treasury of Quotes by Jim Rohn”
