Sloth, Success, and The Self-fulfilling Prophecy. At first glance we might think that those three terms are unrelated, but when you think about it, all three are connected to each other.
Anyone knows that to be successful at something, we have to work at it. Success does not jut happen and it does not fall into anyone’s lap. We can wish it was that simple, but we know better than that. That’s why some people fall for get rich quick schemes.
Look at anyone who has been successful, even yourself. There would have been some effort made towards achieving the set goals. Think about your own journey and your own successes. You too would have had to put in the required effort to achieve your own goals and your level of success.
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Sloth, Success, and The Self-fulfilling Prophecy
How they relate.
Believe it or not, a self-fulfilling prophecy can influence our behavior towards achieving success or not achieving that sought after success.
Depending on what we believe concerning an expected outcome, we can deliberately spoil our plans for success. A self-fulfilling prophecy involves “having a strong belief or making a statement (prophecy) about a future behavior and then acting, usually unknowing, to fulfill or carry out the behavior” (Plotnik & Kouyoumdjian, 2008).
Therefore, if you believe that you won’t be successful at a particular activity, then you can behave in such a way, (unknowingly to you; you’re not really thinking about what you’re doing) to make that belief come to pass.
For example, let’s say you tell yourself or you believe that you won’t be successful in a math class. You may procrastinate about doing the homework, miss a few classes, for what may seem like legitimate reasons to you, or you may turn in your assignments late, or not turn them in at all.
While you’re doing these things, you’re not even thinking about the fact that you are sabotaging your future success in the course. That’s where the unknowing part of the definition comes in. However, as a result of your “efforts” you end up failing the course, which confirms your initial beliefs about you being unsuccessful in your math class.
The power of beliefs
In this respect, you’ve just reinforced a biased belief. Biased in the sense that you had a particular opinion about your performance, which in this case was not a true representation of your potential.
So basically, your expectations influenced your perceptions about your ability, which resulted in you being unsuccessful as you predicted. Sort of shooting yourself in the foot, right? The crazy thing about this is that sometimes we aren’t even aware that these biases exist.
This phenomenon is not restricted to academics only but other things as well. For example, starting and having a successful online business. If you tell yourself you can’t do it, then you won’t. Even when you try, you may procrastinate concerning the various tasks that you’re required to, or you may do things halfway, or not do anything at all, simply because you believe you can’t do it.
Sometimes our beliefs can be so powerful, it can prevent us from reaching our full potential, because it can influence our attitudes, which can impact our behavior, as well as influence the decisions we make.
How do you overcome this?
Once you know how the self-fulfilling prophecy works, you’re better able to recognize it and more importantly, desist from using it. So here are a few suggestions to help you deal with this issue:
1. Check your beliefs toward success.
What’s your evaluation, opinion or belief about yourself as far as success is concerned? Do you believe that you are capable just as the next person, or do you believe that you are not as capable? It’s often been said that “attitude determines your altitude.” If your belief is that you are not as capable, then your attitude will follow that belief.
2. What’s our attitude toward the task at hand?
Depending on your evaluation of the task or goal, either negative or positive, it can influence our level of motivation. Liking what you are doing, is much more of a motivating factor than having to do a task you don’t like.
However, sometimes there are some legitimate things that we don’t like, that we may have to do to be successful at a task. Take studying for example. You may not like it, but if you have to be successful at exams or gain knowledge about something, then you have to study the relevant material.
3. Are you exercising a fear of failure or a fear of success.
Believe it or not, the same way some people have a fear of failure, is the same way some people have a fear of success. With the fear of failure, we choose simple tasks in which we are confident about accomplishing and avoid those tasks that we think we’ll fail at.
With reference to the fear of success, in some instances it’s a simple matter of avoiding additional responsibilities that would come with a particular level of success. In both cases, we stay within our comfort zone. Staying there denies us the opportunity to fulfill our potential.
4. Check your perceived level of confidence concerning the task at hand.
Sometimes we prejudge ourselves negatively even before we’ve attempted a particular task. Right off the back, we tell ourselves that we can’t do the task, so we don’t even try. Guilty?
If you are not confident concerning your abilities to achieve a particular task, then you won’t set high, challenging or realistic goals for your self. When you do that, then you don’t have to work hard to accomplish the goals you actually set. Liking what you have to do, can also be a motivating factor.
5. Getting help and support.
Having help and support can be motivating and mean the difference between giving up or persisting in achieving your goals, despite obstacles, frustrations, or setbacks that may come your way.
The availability of help and support 24/7, was one of the reasons that influenced my decision to start my online business. I know that there is an entire online community available to lend a helping hand whenever I need it. This in itself can be a motivating factor, especially if you’re exploring new territory.
Importance of Attitude
Our attitudes play a really important part in determining our level of success as it can influence whether or not we actually engage in a task or pursue a goal we might like to achieve.
Fear of failure as well as the fear of success, can also contribute to our lack of success, as we may allow those factors to restrict us to our comfort zones and that in itself can prevent us from tapping into our potential, the way in which we should.
Our confidence level in ourselves, whether it’s high or low, can also have an impact, as a high level of confidence would propel us forward to achieve, whereas, a low level of confidence would hinder us from making even a start toward a particular goal or task.
Help and Support
Finally, help and support can make a huge difference in our confidence levels concerning a particular task and it can even influence our attitude towards our perceived ability toward that task, and it can provide that motivation to pursue or goals even in the face of frustrations and setbacks.
Sloth, success, and the self-fulfilling prophecy are three related concepts that can make a difference in your life. If you are lazy (slothful), then you’ll engage in a negative self-fulfilling prophecy. When you do that, you won’t achieve anything worthwhile, since you’ll be telling yourself you can’t achieve the particular task or goal.
So if you’re looking for success in anything that you may want to do, sloth (laziness) and the self-fulfilling prophecy are not the factors that would get you there.
Rather, effort and hard work and you need to have that confidence in your abilities and be determined enough to set challenging goals and persist in pursuing those goals, even in the face of frustrations and setbacks, and with the right help and support, you can do exactly that.
I hope that this post was helpful to you and I want to encourage you to feel free to share your experiences in the comment section of my website. I look forward to hearing from you.
Wishing you every success in your endeavors, as you continue to set and pursue your goals and accomplish all that you possibly can.
Sincerely
Vanessa
Great post! You hit the nail on the head with regards to self belief. Believe it and you can achieve it.
Hi Rob, well said. We absolutely have to believe in ourselves and our abilities if we are to achieve our goals. No one can achieve our goals for us and even if we are encouraged by others, it is still up to us to have that belief in ourselves that we can accomplish our goals and not sabotage our efforts along the way.
Vanessa,
What a great piece on the power we all possess.
The mind and our attitude towards success and failure play out all the time.
Your points on how we so often pre-judge situations, lead to our success or failure regarding the task at hand
is so often the case.
Help and trusted support are the key to doing most anything well in life, I appreciate your wisdom, thanks my best,
Gary
Hi Gary
Thanks for dropping by. The way we think about things can greatly impact the choices we make and sometimes we can by-pass the best of opportunities because we tell ourselves we can’t be as successful as the next person. When we think that way, we simply rob ourselves of our reaching our full potential by not embracing the possibilities.