“The strength of a person is often weighed by how they deal with their weaknesses.” –– Nathaniel Summers

If you’re not achieving all that you wish in your life and career, you can safely bet that the reasons aren’t all that complicated.

Failure can usually be traced to one simple cause. Maybe it’s laziness. Perhaps a lack of attention to detail. Or an unwillingness to persist.

Want an example? On this date in 1912, the ocean liner Titanic struck an iceberg and began to sink. The disaster took more than 1500 lives, and all of it happened for one very simple reason: the captain did not slow down even when warned about the presence of ice.

If the captain had slowed down, there would have been no disaster.

This is great news for you. If you can figure out what is holding you back, and work on that weakness, then you immediately improve your chances of success.

For some people, the answer is easy. Maybe it’s drugs or alcohol. In other cases, the answer may not be quite so clear. That’s when you need coaching. Approach someone you trust and ask them this question: What is holding me back? Is there some weakness I should work on?

Asking this question will require courage, and listening with an open mind to the answer will require even more courage. But doing so could open up great possibilities.

Wade Boggs is in the baseball Hall of Fame today, but people forget that when he was a minor-leaguer, his success was far from assured. Everyone knew he could hit, but there were huge questions about his ability to play defense.

Boggs began to work on his defensive game intensively. He practiced before every game. Sure enough, his defense went from below average to average — good enough for him to reach the major leagues.

By working on that weakness, Boggs eliminated the thing that was holding him back. After that, there was no stopping him!