3 expensive habits that are costing you your success

Whether you have your own business, work as an independent consultant, or in an organization, I see the same 3 ‘traps’ seduce nearly every professional man I work with. 

Traps are like habits. We see it every day. 

They can derail your entire career trajectory and results without you even realizing it. 

Regardless of how experienced you are in your industry. 

In fact, the higher you climb the more destructive these habits become:

 

1. SHINY OBJECT SYNDROME

 

 You’ve heard of this one but may not appreciate the full disaster it can cause to your career…or the various ways it shows up. 

Easily distracted, pulled in different directions, little-to-no consistent focus. 

I see this all the time in my 2-year-old son, who has the attention span of a gnat – he’ll be playing contentedly with his trucks, suddenly see a squirrel in the backyard and yell “SQUILL!!“‘ as he runs to the window forgetting the trucks entirely for the rest of the day. 

Funny right? Well…It’s funny when it’s a toddler with no responsibilities or long-term ambitions. 

But fast forward 50 years and I see those same behaviors showing up in grown men. Successful men in many ways who could be that much more successful if they didn’t get distracted by the shiny objects in their life. 

What does that look like? 

It might be a history of changing jobs, making lateral moves every few years because you ‘get bored’ easily. But starting over at the same level with slightly more pay never leads to big gains in your career trajectory or income. 

If you’re a business owner it means you’re constantly trying new things in your business. After all, you’re an entrepreneur – an ‘ideas guy’. But you’re changing things up so often that each new process or strategy is never given a chance to iron out the kinks. You don’t have the patience for that. So every year you’re trying something new, optimistic but never getting the traction you need. 

Other shiny objects: Social media. A new app you play with for hours. A side project that sucks up time that could be spent working on the real goal. Chores around the house…you’re ‘helping your wife out’, you tell yourself to justify why you’re not working on what you should be the provider for your family.

The real issue: lack of focus and FOMO (fear of missing out) that keeps you working hard but spinning your wheels because you don’t (or can’t) stick to the plan that will move you forward.  

 

2. RUBBER STAMP SYNDROME

  

This is where you spend more time than necessary collecting degrees and certifications that you don’t really need but you tell yourself will help leapfrog to the next level of success.  

The problem is that you end up yearning for the external validation that degrees and certificates confer instead of proving it to yourself and others through creating tangible results.  

The more credentials you have, the worse the problem gets.  

They don’t lead to the leapfrog in career advancement or new business opportunities that you had originally hoped for. 

In fact, the time it took you away from making real strides in your career actually sets you back, as you watch others who stayed the course get the promotion over you. 

The real issue: lack of self-belief, self-esteem, or insecurity leads you to try to fill in the gaps on paper instead of learning how to build the internal strength, courage, and confidence to stand up for what you’re capable of. 

 

3. SUNK-COST SYNDROME

  

You stay stuck in your current line of work because of ever-increasing sunk costs: time, money, experience, identity.

You’ve invested so much – maybe decades – into climbing the ladder only to realize along the way that you’ve been climbing the wrong ladder.

In fact, you hate the ladder you’re climbing and the environment you’re stuck in.

The thrill is gone. You’re watching the clock. You’re losing your soul.

No passion, joy, fulfillment, or any sense of purpose.

“I want to stop doing what I am doing and start doing what I want to do,” you say.

“…But I’ve invested so many years into this career…”

“…But my experience is in this profession…”

“…I can’t just throw it all away…”

“…I can’t start over at my age…”

As any micro-economist will tell you, there is no surer path to bad outcomes than incorporating unrecoverable expenses into your future decision-making.

And that’s exactly what happens.

You end up self-sabotaging your career.

Or at best, grind it out in a job you hate counting down the years until you can retire and hope to get your life back – whatever that might look like. 

In the meantime, frustration turns to apathy. Your negative attitude pushes people away. Your wife wonders what happened to the man she used to know. And your soul is slowly dying. 

So you resign yourself to a ‘safe’ but miserable existence. 

Any of these sound familiar to you? 

Chances are one (or more) of these bad habits has held you back in your career. 

Maybe it’s holding you back right now. 

Because here’s the truth: all of these are preventable, fixable and you can get your career accelerated faster than you ever thought possible, no matter how much a derailment you’ve had. 

How do I know? Because I see it all the time with my clients.

When they do the work, they get amazing results. Fast.

Every. Single. Time.

If you’re sick of wasting time, energy, and suffering through the stress of not being where you should be by now in your career, it’s time to do something about it.