12 Habits Of Perpetual Underachievers Who Never Move Forward In Life

Don’t fall into the trap of underachievement.

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Achievement of any kind doesn’t simply magic its way into someone’s life. They have to work at it and be the creator of their own success. Likewise, those who seemingly always underachieve in life demonstrate certain behaviors or mindsets that prevent them from taking the forward steps they’d like to take.

1. Procrastinating.

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Constantly delaying tasks creates a backlog of responsibilities which causes the underachiever to need to catch up. However, that’s not the only problem. Many opportunities, small and large, rely on completing those responsibilities. For example, maybe you avoid your responsibilities at work and miss out on a promotion because of it. This habit builds stress and prevents progress.

2. Fretting over potential failure.

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The fear of failure causes more broken dreams than anything else. By fearing failure, you are constructing a fenced-off place of security around your life. The issue is that you don’t grow while comfortable. New opportunities require new experiences and expanding your horizons, which you can’t do when you aren’t willing to take a risk.

3. Not setting goals (or setting unhelpful ones).

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It’s easy to drift along aimlessly without clear, specific, and measurable goals. People who don’t set goals waste their time and energy just doing things on a whim and not moving in a particular direction. Every day that you don’t focus or don’t try leads you further away from the life that you want. How will you reach a destination if you don’t know where you’re going? Goals help to plot your path to success.

4. Blaming others.

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Underachievers frequently blame other people or external circumstances for their lack of success or progress. They avoid responsibility for their own decisions which makes it impossible to learn from them. Why bother examining a situation when you can just write it off as someone else’s fault and forget about it? It’s hard to take responsibility because it feels bad, but feeling bad is a part of progress.

5. Chasing perfect.

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Perfectionists tend to view perfection as a good thing. In all cases, it’s not. The underachiever may use the reasoning that if they can’t do it perfectly, then it’s not worth doing at all, so they don’t even try. They may also set themselves far behind on a project by continuing to fiddle with it until they feel that it’s perfect. In reality, a majority of people aren’t going to care enough to look closely at the thing.

6. Being undisciplined.

A man with short dark hair and a beard sits on a beige armchair, holding a TV remote in one hand while resting his head on the other. He seems uninterested or bored. A bowl of popcorn is placed on the arm of the chair beside him.

Motivation gets you moving, discipline keeps you moving. So many people focus on the fact that they struggle to maintain motivation while pursuing goals. The secret to motivation is that it’s fleeting. Discipline, on the other hand, is forcing yourself to do the work even when you don’t want to do it. Underachievers bemoan their lack of motivation instead of cultivating discipline to just do the work.

7. Talking themselves down.

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Negative self-talk is self-sabotage. Why bother trying if you convince yourself that you’re not good enough, smart enough, or skilled enough? Negative self-talk becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy—if you tell yourself you can’t do it, then you’re either not going to try or you’re going to go into it expecting to fail. And by expecting to fail, you don’t work or try as hard, which causes you to underachieve.

8. Avoiding feedback.

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A fear of criticism stifles your ability to progress in life. That fear keeps underachievers from seeking out constructive feedback and criticism that can help them learn, grow, and improve themselves. The fact is that no one can know everything. By refusing criticism, it’s impossible to take advantage of the knowledge and experience other people already have.

9. Making excuses.

A young woman with long brown hair wearing a light blue button-up shirt over a white top is standing against a plain white background. She looks puzzled or confused, with one arm crossed and the other hand raised with her palm up.

Perpetual underachievers make excuses for why they can’t succeed instead of finding solutions to the obstacles they face. It’s a self-soothing way to deflect the need to try. After all, the only person the excuse-maker is fooling is themselves. This mindset keeps them rooted in place instead of moving forward toward goals they want to achieve.

10. Managing time poorly.

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You only get so many hours in a day, and you can get no more. Underachievers often mismanage their time, wasting hours on distractions or low-priority tasks. Proper time management is required to complete tasks and achieve long-term goals. Every hour wasted is an hour not bringing you closer to what you want out of life, for yourself or the people you care about.

11. Surrounding themselves with negativity.

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Negative people and toxic environments perpetuate a cycle of underachievement and hopelessness. Why bother trying if other people tear you down? Do you believe you can get out of a bad environment if that same environment saps your energy and motivation? Negative influences create a negative outlook, draining you of optimism, motivation, and progress.

12. Resisting change.

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Underachievers often resist change, even when change is necessary to grow and succeed. They may stay in a dead-end job, cling to unproductive routines, or stay in relationships that don’t encourage them to grow. These negative situations feel comfortable, so the person decides to stay there rather than be uncomfortable. Unfortunately, resisting change keeps them from moving forward in life.