How many really successful people do you see sitting around and complaining about life, finances, and circumstance?
How many of the people you see who are constantly complaining are really moving forward in life?
From my experience, the answer to both is “none”. Why?
Successful people don’t complain. Successful people take action. Those who spend their lives complaining are those who stay living in mediocrity.
Why is that? And if that’s the case, why do people complain? And what can we do about it?
Table of Contents
Why do people complain?
It’s easier than taking action
We complain because it’s easier. We don’t have to take action if we complain. It involves less risk. It’s much easier to talk about a circumstance, other people, and/or our finances than to get up off our rear ends, take risks, and do something about it.
We fear others’ opinions
If we take action, it points out to other people who like to sit around and complain that they aren’t taking action. They may make fun of us. Or we may mess up and look dumb.
So instead, we sit around and complain and continue to live mediocre lives because we don’t want other people who sit around and complain and live in mediocrity making fun of us?
Sounds silly, doesn’t it?
People who are pursuing success, who have taken risks, who’ve worked hard to get to the top – those types of people won’t make fun of you. They will cheer you on. They’ve been there. Those are the types of people you should want around.
It relieves us of responsibility
Complaining relieves us of responsibility. It’s something or someone else’s fault. If we aren’t responsible, then we don’t have to deal with it. We don’t have to do something about it. We won’t have to make changes in our life.
How does complaining poison us?
It pushes away the right people
Jim Rohn stated that you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. If you wish to be successful, you spend time with those who are successful.
Complaining pushes away successful people. They do not want to live and dwell in negativity. And since they take responsibility for their own actions – they don’t want to sit around and hear about how you don’t.
So who do you attract when you live a life of complaining? Other complainers. Others live in negativity and mediocrity.
Good luck with that.
We stay where we are
Generally, those who complain don’t do anything about their circumstances. They just complain.
So if you don’t do anything to fix the situation- if you don’t act to make things different, why in the world do you think anything is ever going to change?
You are going to stay in the same circumstance until you do something to make a difference.
We stop growing
If we want to have success in our life, we have to be constantly growing and learning. In one of his podcasts, Ken Courtwright said that the times that his company stayed stagnant were the times when he stopped learning and growing.
If all you do is complain, you aren’t learning. If you aren’t learning, you aren’t growing. You won’t learn how to do things better. You won’t learn from setbacks. You won’t learn how to move forward.
You will end up just repeating the same mistakes and actions and continue complaining about it.
So what should we do?
Stop complaining
Seriously. Just stop. Stop with the negative talk, the negative thoughts, and the attitudes that come from it. Just stop! It gets you nowhere in life.
Take responsibility for your actions
Take responsibility for your actions and circumstances. As Jack Canfield talks about in his book The Success Principles, you are where you are because of the choices you have made in the past. Own up to it.
Canfield also gives an equation in his book: E + R = O: Event plus Response equals Outcome.
We can’t always choose the events that happen to us, but we can always choose our response. So if you can choose and change your response, you can change the outcome.
Take responsibility for your responses and for your choices. Take responsibility for your life.
Take risks and take action
If you take responsibility and move forward, you will have to take action. You will have to take risks. You will have to do something to bring change. You can’t just sit in mediocrity anymore.
And if you do that, you may fail. You may have other people laugh and talk down to you. And that’s ok. Everyone has failures and setbacks. It’s how your respond (the R!) that matters.
And the people who laugh at you for trying? If they are laughing at you for trying to move forward – then they weren’t worth worrying about in the first place. They can sit and enjoy their laughter and mediocrity. You are moving forward in life.
Constantly learn and grow
Life is about learning. You will have setbacks and failures. Learn from them. If you aren’t where you want to be right now – don’t complain about it – figure out how to get there, what you need to learn, and how you need to grow.
If you are always on the lookout to learn and grow in every circumstance and situation, then you are definitely on the path toward success.
Choose to only be positive
Choose to be positive. Always. Remember, you can’t always choose the events, or the situations you are in, but you can choose your response. Remove all negativity from your vocabulary.
Final Thoughts on How Complaining Poisons Your Success
The path toward success
Complaining is poison. It harms and destroys not only us but also hurt those around us as well. Choose today to not drink that poison.
Choose today to take responsibility for your life and actions, to be positive, to take action, and to always be learning and growing.
Now to you: What is one area in your life that you are going to stop complaining about and start taking responsibility and action? Let us know in the comment!
If you have any feedback, questions, or other tips to share, please let us know in the comments below.
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