Do you feel you are putting in a lot of effort and getting little result? Does it seems that success is the birthright of certain few people? Are people telling you that you can never achieve anything tangible with your life? Do you believe their lies?  It is high time you took charge of your life. Failures will come in life but that should not be the deciding factor of what you make of your life. You owe yourself, and God, the responsibility of shaking of every failure and turn every adversity into testimony. If you are still experiencing failure, it is most likely you are being held by any of these stumbling blocks to [tag]success[/tag].

Are you blaming others for what happens to you? Do you still live in the realm of pushing responsibility to others? Someone said that the difference between witchcraft and medicine is that when a man falls sick, witchcraft makes him ask, “who did this to me” while medicine makes him ask, “what did this to me“. This practice of blaming others account not only half of people’s failures  but also for failure to cash in on failures. When you keep blaming others for whatsoever happens to you, there is no way you can identify the cause of the failure and learn the lesson. As such, you would not be able to prevent the recurrence of this in your life. As long as you do not recognise failure fow what it is, you can not deal with it.

The second stumbling block is blaming oneself…Do you find yourself saying, “Why do I always say the wrong thing”, “Why is it that it is when it gets to my turn that something else happens”, etc. Then you ar guilty of this stumbling block. This is usually a quick and easy way to brush off a failure that probably runs much deeper and requires more consideration than people are willing to admit.  Instead of wrestling with the problem behind the failure and resolve it to prevent recurrence, many people blame themselves and let it go at that. This does more harm that good. It plants the deep feeling of inferiority and insecurity. [tag]Abraham Lincoln[/tag] failed many times before he became the president but he was far from being a failure. Excessive self-blame opens the door to guilt feelings. You will keep finding fault in whatsoever you do when clearly the actual cause is being left unattended to.

The third stumbling block is having no goal: We all must know where we want to go if we are going to get anywhere. It is easy to drift along when you have no goal. Are you currently going through school as if you are doing your family a favour? Or you are only interested on your salary in your current job? These are signs that you don’t have a goal. You are definitely not aiming for anything. The people who go places and do things make the most of every situation. They are ready for the next thing that comes along on the road to their goal. They know what they want and are willing to go an extra mile. The question now is, “what is your goal?” What are you living for? Think about this and take action today.

Another stumbling block is taking short cut: An electric current will follow the line of least resistance but a bulb glows precisely because there is resistance. Many choose instinctively what seems to be the shortest, easiest, and quickest way to success only to discover that the success was illusory.  Too often, the shortcut is responsible for the choice of unsuitable goals which then lead to unsatisfactory success. Refusal to observe established rules of decency and honesty is definitely one major short cut that we all need to watch.

Do you find yourself being held by any of these stumbling blocks, decide to do something today. Take charge of your life and give yourself no other option. The ball is in your court. You will succeed.