Why People Fail: The 16 Obstacles to Success and How You Can Overcome Them [Kindle Edition]

Siimon Reynolds (Author)

Book Description

Silver Medal Winner, Success and Motivation, 2012 Axiom Business Book Awards

An essential guide for mastering failure in order to achieve your goals

Success is often just a moment—a goal fulfilled, soon to be replaced with new goals. But failure is the ambitious person's constant companion, often dogging us for months, years or even decades before we finally reach our aim. In the groundbreaking book Why People Fail, Siimon Reynolds, one of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, explores the main causes of failure, in any field, and reveals solutions for overcoming them and creating a successful personal and professional life.

Why People Fail offers strategies and ideas for defeating the sixteen most common failure habits such as destructive thinking, low productivity, stress, fixed mindset, lack of daily rituals, and more.

• Outlines the common habits that lead to failure and shows how to overcome them
• Features dozens of tips and exercises to help increase business and personal success
• Written by Siimon Reynolds, an internationally recognized expert on high performance and business excellence

Many people have changed their lives by mastering just one of the timeless principles in this book. Master five or ten and your life will rocket to a totally new level.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This is a book on success disguised as a book on failure. A little like real life. Straightforward, clear, and actionable.”
—Seth Godin, author, Poke the Box

“Why People Fail is a wonderful gem of a book. Reynolds hasdone all of us an extraordinary service by reading and listeningto everything there is on self-improvement, testing it in his life, discovering what works, and then pulling it all together for us to use. It is a stunning collection of practical tips, proven techniques, and useful advice on how to make your life more meaningful and fulfilling. Buy this book and put it to use today, and tomorrow you'll be on your way to turning your failures into successes.”
—Jim Kouzes, bestselling author, The Leadership Challenge and Credibility, and The Dean's Executive Fellow of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University

“Reynolds has done it again! In Why People Fail, the successful entrepreneur and internationally-recognized expert on achievement shows business leaders, educators, coaches, and anyone who's struggled to succeed, how to incorporate a handful of simple ideas into a powerful plan for triumph.”
—Marshall Goldsmith, bestselling author, MOJO and What Got You Here Won't Get You There

From the Inside Flap

Success is often just a moment—a goal fulfilled, soon to be replaced with new goals. But failure is the ambitious person's constant companion, often dogging us for months, years or even decades before we finally reach our aim.

Siimon Reynolds transformed himself from a directionless twenty-something (in his own words, "one of the most disorganized people I've ever known") into the founder of one of the largest marketing services firms in the world by identifying the habits that lead people down the wrong path and then by consciously avoiding them. In Why People Fail, he draws on that experience to explore the main causes of failure and presents proven strategies and tips for defeating the sixteen most common behaviors that lead to failure such as destructive thinking, low productivity, not asking the right questions, holding on to a fixed mindset, not following daily rituals, and more. Surprising, entertaining, and inspiring, Why People Fail will you help you drop the behaviors that hold you back and reach your full potential for success in your professional and personal life.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 471 KB
• Print Length: 261 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1118106172
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass (September 23, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005QPDNF8
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #270,552 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Are you positioning yourself and your family for failure or success? November 10, 2011

By Booklover

Format:Hardcover

Highly recommend for business-minded achievers and even family-minded readers. For example, did you know that drinking less coffee, or thinking about an octopus can help you succeed? Or, that your client roster can double from an outrageous and ridiculous idea like being rude? Parents, did you know that you can increase your child's potential for success each and every night by ensuring they don't sleep in a room with a night-light?

Reynolds offers research-based studies and makes a case on failure and success being highly predictable inside Why People Fail. Reynolds, a high achiever and business coach for companies including, Apple, BP, Citibank, IBM, IKEA, Sony, and Volvo, has been studying the science of failure and success as related to human behavior for more than 20 years. During this time, he isolated 16 barriers to success and presents them alongside research-based facts, along with rules, exercises, and techniques for surmounting failure, such as:

* Devote 30 minutes each day toward mastering your industry. "Within just one year, I guarantee your coworkers will consider you an absolute expert in your field," states Reynolds.

* Pause for a minute and appreciate the momentous impact of the following con- cept: You may not be the person you think you are. Research has proven that the average person has around 60,000-70,000 thoughts a day, but the extraordinary fact is that around 70 percent of those thoughts are recycled from yesterday. We believe that we are thinking new thoughts, but in reality our think based processes are mechanical and highly conditioned to our environments and beliefs. The key is to retrain your brain.

* Enhance your relationships, and subsequently yourself, by identifying Inner and Outer Circles of Influence. Use social media applications like Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn to expand and strengthen personal and professional relationships.

* Fail and persist. It's not a secret that society is more accustomed to titles like How People Succeed. In fact, there are very few books on failure. By titling this book Why People Fail, Reynolds hopes to retrain readers to not fear failure, but to embrace it as a natural occurrence on the road to success. As Reynolds states, "A common reason people don't persist is that they believe there is something wrong with failure. I believe differently. Failure is a normal and customary part of high achievement. If society adopted this view, people would be more likely to persist. We would be a world of supermen and superwomen. Currently, to our own detriment, this is not the case. More often than not, failure is viewed as a dark shadow on success. I am here to challenge and change this fear-based thinking."

Great read--especially in these economically-tough times. Would make the perfect graduation present as well.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring book November 20, 2011

By Jacob

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I recently bought Why People Fail.

Highly highly recommend it! It's the type of book that inspires you, and then shows you the way to make your goals happen!

I literally sat there with a highlighter and a bunch of post-it notes.

Right now I am feeling like my life has taken on a new direction and I can't wait to put all that I have read into action.

Highly recommend it for anyone that feels that they've lost their focus or just need a bit of help reaching their goals (or even setting their goals!!!).

Why People Fail will get you back on track!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A book about Success December 17, 2011

By Jim Estill

Format:Hardcover

I rarely give 5 stars but for this one I did.

I normally like reading about success although I do always say Fail Often, Fail Fast, Fail Cheap.

I loved the book. It starts with a chapter "Unclear Purpose". It is so obvious - the main cause of failure is not lack of clarity. "Vagueness leads to failure". The chapter goes on with concrete examples of how you can set your purpose. It even suggests setting a purpose for the week. For me, purpose comes before goals. The book tends to lump them together.

There is a good chapter on low productivity and what to do about it (perhaps a trick like planning ahead might work).

And one of my favourites - Daily Rituals (or habits). We are the product of what we repeatedly do. And having habit makes things take no willpower.

I guess if I have any beef with the book, it is the negativity of the title. It really is a success book.

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