The Bad 7 Habits of Productive People Who Acquire Their Goals

By Ange Fonce


You have heard all the advice about how to be more productive. 

Stay focused... be motivated... get your exercise... floss twice a day and eat your veggies and you will acquire your goals!

The truth is... I have got a lot out of productivity goal acquiring advice over the years... if I had not my life would consist of eating cupcakes and doing what...TV... Facebook etc.

Yet as a business owner when you start to see a certain level of success and to meet other people who have attained some success... you sometimes find the reality of building a business and acquiring your goals do not always match the pretty pictures painted in productivity and coaching manuals.

Today I am going to talk about 7 bad habits that crop up a lot in successful people.

You may not want to actually adopt all of these habits and traits... if you have one or two or more of them you can probably stop using that as an excuse for not trying to create something epic with your life!

And who knows I just might convince you to be a little more distractible... greedy or arrogant.

Let us get to it.



Bad Habit Number 1... Being Thin Skinned


When you first start a business or work on your goals... everyone and his know it all uncle tells you that "you have to develop a thick skin."

What I have observed is that quite often... this advice comes from people who are praising themselves for being utterly oblivious as most of the successful people I know are sensitive and perceptive and yes when they get criticized they feel like shit... I do!

Yet do they let trolls and whiners stop them from doing something great? 

NO!

And it is not because they do not feel the insults... it is because their passion for what they do is stronger than the discomfort.

The more progress you make the thicker your emotional skin will naturally get because you will start to realize that you are actually doing something that matters and the small minds in the peanut gallery are not and you do not have to try to rush that process and anyway I have never known anyone who could. 

Sensitivity is an asset do not try to beat it out of yourself.





Bad Habit Number 2... Flakiness


You all know you should not let things slip through the cracks.

You should answer people... make and keep connections

Sort out everything for the family and your friends.

In short be Super Human.

If you can actually do all of this that is awesome and do not stop.

And if you sometimes flake out... flake out on things that are important and worth your while... welcome to the club... the truth is if you are building something epic you are going to be juggling a lot of pieces and they do not always go together neatly... sometimes they do not go together at all.

When I was a young administrative assistant I never blew anything off... I was impeccable in how I handled all of my responsibilities because my responsibilities were essentially uncomplicated... that is exactly why I did not remain an administrative assistant.

In my life now sometimes I miss stuff and since everything I do revolves around connecting with people is all important... because every human is important... I do not like dropping the ball and letting people down... like the scramble I had the night before to get this article published for that matter and catching up with everything since having a break away.

Know it or not flakes can accomplish amazing things and if you have never been a flake before... you may find this less than lovely trait comes out when things start to get really interesting.

When you are stretching yourself you will drop the ball sometimes and try to figure out the circumstances in which you should never let yourself drop the ball. 

Make sure the “A” tasks get done.

Do your best and say sorry when you screw up and do not stop just because things get messy.




Bad Habit Number 3... Selfishness


Rather closely aligned with Bad Habit No 2... if you are not able to be at least somewhat selfish you are never going to survive this life with any measure of success.

You have got to selfishly draw some lines  around how you are going to take care of yourself... around how much time you will give to your project... around getting enough sleep and taking some time off.

The sad fact is unless you are under ten years old... if you do not take care of yourself no one else is going to show up and do it for you.

It is ridiculous to burn down your life to create a successful company or achieve your goals... this is ridiculous and unnecessary and antithetical to success... so do not do it.

And if the rules of your whatever say you have to destroy yourself to become successful... change the "whatever" or rewrite the rules.





Bad Habit Number 4... Greed


"I hate almost all rich people, but I think I’d be darling at it." ~ Dorothy Parker


This is going to freak some people out and I can see the anti rich haters rubbing their hands together even as I type this and that is not helping you... so screw them.

Here is the straight dope... if you think money is the root of all evil... you are unlikely to ever get your hands on any... because money is just money... it is what YOU do with money that MATTERS! 

I do not know why this is... somehow money can tell when you are allergic to it and it stays away.

PLEASE NOTE... that by telling you to be greedy I do not mean be an unfeeling... unethical... back stabbing... two faced... screaming... robbing ratbag.

The best and most fun way to make money is by helping other people a lot and being of GREAT SERVICE to others!

I am also not saying that money will be mystically attracted to you if you change your mindset as the secret to financial success tends to involve plenty of hard work and investment of time and not pseudo magic laws as there are no accidental millionaires. 

The closest we have is lottery winners who usually do not manage to keep hold of their wealth.

If you want to make money... value money. 

Not above integrity or your family or your lifes great passion and accept money for what it can do for you and for others.

You can always give it away to someone who needs it more badly than you do. 

Yet you have got to earn it first.





Bad Habit Number 5... Distractibility


"Creativity is the residue of time wasted." ~ Albert Einstein


For reasons that will become obvious I love reading research results from scientific studies.

A large sample of undergraduates was given a variety of difficult creative tests... it turned out that students who had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were much better at solving creative problems than other students were and when the students were asked about creative accomplishments in the real world like winning a prize at a juried art show or winning an honor at a science fair... the ADHD students had achieved significantly more.

Some of these studies go on to point out similar heightened creativity in people who may not have a particular diagnosis and for one reason or another they are not as traditionally focused as their peers... although we live in an age that worships attention when we need to work... we force ourselves to concentrate... this approach can inhibit the imagination... sometimes it helps to consider irrelevant information... to eavesdrop on all the stray associations unfolding in the far reaches of the brain. 

Occasionally focus can backfire and make us fixated on the wrong answers although total focus is highly admirable and you all know you have got to focus to acquire your goals.

Yet some of the people you might envy for their laser focus have a hard time seeing the broader picture... they may be executing the hell out of their goal strategy today yet watch what they do in the long term.

The more widely you read... look... watch... listen and think the more genuinely remarkable ideas you are going to come up with.

When it is time to do you do and when it is time to daydream... go ahead and daydream.




Bad Habit Number 6... Self Doubt


I know a local business owner who is always got a story about his idiot business partners... his idiot employees... his idiot customers.

One of his businesses just fell apart spectacularly again... it is a painful situation for him and for all of his employees who just lost their jobs... I feel for them. 

And one thing I can be sure of... at no point will he ask himself this important question... is it me?

Yes you need to be able to make decisions and Jim Collins showed nicely in his book Great by Choice that one marker of a business leader who succeeds over time is what Collins calls productive paranoia.

Trusting in yourself no matter what is often touted as critical to leadership and it is effective in getting a leadership position. 

Blind faith in yourself also known as narcissism is a great trait if you want to climb the traditional corporate ladder... unfortunately it is often associated with leading your self right off a cliff.

Blind faith is STUPID!

Which means that for any who wants to make a success of their life without a golden parachute of wise friends pals or a really good coach... a big dose of healthy self doubt is much more useful.

Question yourself... question your assumptions. 

Take action yes and inform your action with a healthy dose of productive questioning before you act.



Bad Habit Number 7... Arrogance


Sometimes you think good work speaks for itself... usually you are wrong.

I want you to be incredibly good at what you do and I want you to get a little bit arrogant about that... toot your own horn and admit that you are kind of a big deal.

As I have said many times in my posts about misguided and stupid beliefs... the line between being smart and savvy and stupid jackwad is indeed a fine one... obviously I try to keep off the jackwad side of the fence.

And for your project or your goals to become truly epic to help an epic number of people... you are going to have to get out there and talk it up... which will make some people uncomfortable and envious... be against you and even want to DESTROY you.

And since you do not have a thick skin...see 1... that is going to kind of suck... fortunately doing something epic takes the sting out and you just beat these people by SUCCEEDING!

So get out there and do it and REALLY live the DYNAMIC LIFE you want to LIVE!

How about you?

Any “bad” habits that come in handy when you are doing the Amazing Thing You Do?

Have you any thoughts or comments you would like to share with me on what I have written?

I would love to hear from you.

Thank you and may you enjoy a Loving... Prosperous and Dynamic day!

Yours Sincerely




Dynamic Lifer

1... A person with a penchant for Science... creativity... books... writing... communication... fitness... women... sexing... sexuality... human relationships... psychology... physiology and any other area involving heavy use of the Intellect.

2... A bright person and glamorously Intelligent!

3... Ange is an Author... Speaker and Dynamic Peak Performance Personal Development Consultant... and Humanistic Counselling Psychologist... Sexologist and Multipreneur... who works with those men and women who desire to personally develop themselves and their relationships to become Dynamic Lifers... creators of their own life... relationships and wealth! 

4... If you are Happy and you Know it... you are becoming a Dynamic Lifer!

To Speak to Ange and arrange a consultation for what you would like help with CLICK HERE




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