The 30 Major Causes Of Failure

How many of these are holding you back?

Life's greatest tragedy consists of men and women who earnestly try and fail. The tragedy lies in the overwhelmingly large majority of people who fail, as compared to the few who succeed.

I am sharing with you this proven analysis from Napoleon Hill of the 30 major reasons for failure. As you go over the list, check yourself by it, point by point, to discover how many of these causes of failure stand between you and success.

Unfavorable Hereditary Background
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Little, if anything, can be done for people who are born with a deficiency in brain power. This philosophy offers but one method of bridging this weakness—through the aid of the Master Mind (coordination of knowledge and effort).

Lack Of A Well-Defined Purpose In Life
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There is no hope of success for the person who does not have a central purpose, or definite goal, at which to aim.

Lack Of Ambition To Aim Above Mediocrity
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We offer no hope for the person who is so indifferent as not to want to get ahead in life, and who is not willing to pay the price.

Insufficient Education

This is a handicap that may be overcome with comparative ease. Experience has proven that the best-educated people are often those who are known as "self-made" or self-educated. It takes more than a university degree to make one a person of education. Any person who is educated has learned to get whatever they want in life without violating the rights of others. Education consists not so much of knowledge, but of knowledge effectively and persistently applied. People are paid not merely for what they know, but more particularly for what they do with what they know.

Lack Of Self-Discipline

Discipline comes through self-control. This means that you must control all negative qualities. Before you can control conditions, you must first control yourself. Self-mastery is the hardest job you will ever tackle. If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self. You may see at one and the same time both your best friend and your greatest enemy, by stepping in front of a mirror.

Ill Health

No person may enjoy outstanding success without good health.

Unfavorable Environmental Influences During Childhood

"As the twig is bent, so shall the tree grow." Most people who have criminal tendencies acquire them as the result of a bad environment and improper associates during childhood.

Procrastination

This is one of the most common causes of failure. "Old Man Procrastination" stands within the shadow of all people, awaiting the opportunity to spoil their chances of success. Most of us go through life as failures because we are waiting for the "time to be right" to start doing something worthwhile. Do not wait. The time will never be "just right." Start where you stand, work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.

Lack Of Persistence

Most of us are good "starters" but poor "finishers" of everything we begin. Moreover, people are prone to give up at the first signs of defeat. There is no substitute for persistence. The persistent person discovers that "Old Man Failure" finally becomes tired and goes away. Failure cannot cope with persistence.

Negative Personality

There is no hope of success for the person who repels people through a negative personality. Success comes through the application of power, and power is attained through the cooperative efforts of other people. A negative personality will not induce cooperation.

Lack Of Controlled Sexual Urge

Sex energy is the most powerful of all the stimuli that move people into action. Because it is the most powerful of the emotions, it must be controlled through transmutation and converted into other channels.

Uncontrolled Desire For "Something For Nothing"

The gambling instinct drives millions of people to failure. Evidence of this may be found in a study of the dot-com fiasco of the early 2000s, during which millions of people tried to make money by investing in fly-by-night companies.

Lack Of A Well-Defined Power Of Decision

​People who succeed reach decisions promptly, and change them—of at all—very slowly. People who fail reach decisions—if at all—very slowly, and change them frequently and quickly. Indecision and procrastination are twins. Where one is found, the other may usually be found also. Kill off this pair before they completely tie you to the treadmill of failure.

One Or More Of The Six Basic Fears (Poverty, Criticism, Ill Health, Loss Of Love Of Someone, Old Age, and Death)

These fears must be mastered before you can market your services effectively.

Wrong Selection Of A Mate In Marriage

This is the most common cause of failure. The relationship of marriage brings people intimately into contact. Unless the relationship is harmonious, failure is likely to follow. Moreover, it will be a form of failure marked by misery and unhappiness, destroying all signs of ambition.

Over-Caution

The person who takes no chances generally has to take whatever is left when others have finished choosing. Over-caution is as bad as under-caution. Both are extremes to be guarded against. Life itself is filled with the element of chance.

Wrong Selection Of Association In Business

This is one of the most common causes of failure in business. In marketing your services, you should take great care to select an employer who will be an inspiration, and who is intelligent and successful. We emulate those with whom we associate most closely. Pick an employer who is worth emulating.

Superstition And Prejudice

A superstition is a form of fear. It is also a sign of ignorance. People who succeed keep open minds and are afraid of nothing.

Wrong Selection Of A Vocation

No one can succeed in a line of endeavor they do not like. The most essential step in marketing your services is selecting an occupation into which you can throw yourself wholeheartedly.

Lack Of Concentration Of Effort

The "jack-of-all-trades" is seldom good at any. Concentrate all your efforts on one definite chief aim.

The Habit Of Indiscriminate Spending

Spendthrifts cannot succeed, mainly because they stand eternally in fear of poverty. Form the habit of systematic saving by putting aside a definite percentage of your income. Money in the bank gives you a very safe foundation of courage when bargaining for the sale of your services. Without money, you must take what you are offered, and be glad to get it.

Lack Of Enthusiasm

Without enthusiasm, one cannot be convincing. Moreover, enthusiasm is contagious, and the person who has it, under control, is generally welcome in any group of people.

Intolerance

The person with a "closed" mind on any subject seldom gets ahead. Intolerance means that one has stopped acquiring knowledge.

Intemperance

The most damaging forms of intemperance are connected with eating, strong drink, and sexual activities. Overindulgence in any of these is fatal to success.

Inability To Cooperate With Others

More people lose their positions and their big opportunities in life because of this fault than for all other reasons combined. It is a fault which no well-informed business executive or leader will tolerate.

Possession Of Power Not Acquired Through Self-Effort

(Sons and daughters of wealthy families, and others who inherit money that they did not earn.) Power in the hands of one who did not acquire it gradually is often fatal to success. Quick riches are more dangerous than poverty.

Intentional Dishonesty

There is no substitute for honesty. One may be temporarily dishonest by force of circumstances over which one has no control, without permanent damage. But there is no hope for people who are dishonest by choice. Sooner or later, their deeds will catch up with them, and they will pay by loss of reputation, and perhaps even loss of liberty.

Egotism And Vanity

These qualities serve as red lights that warn others to keep away. They are fatal to success.

Guessing Instead Of Thinking

Most people are too indifferent or lazy to acquire a fact with which to think accurately. They prefer to act on "opinions" created by guesswork or snap-judgments.

Lack Of Capital

This is a common cause of failure among those who start out in business for the first time without sufficient reserve of capital to absorb the shock of their mistakes and to carry them over until they have established a reputation.


In these 30 major causes of failure is found a description of the tragedy of life, which is relevant for practically every person who tries and fails. It will be helpful if you can induce someone who knows you well to go over this list with you and help analyze you according to the 30 causes of failure. It may be more beneficial than if you try this alone. Most people cannot see themselves as others see them. You may be the one who cannot.