Screwing Up By The Numbers

1. Fail to adjust for your own strengths and weaknesses.
2. Don't just believe in miracles, depend on them.
3. Believe that if you have had a recurring problem in a series of projects or ventures then the blame must rest with other people and not with yourself.
4. Try to be the “plumber” when you have no expertise in the subject.
5. Resist learning from your mistakes and those of others.
6. Take no time out for recreation or thought.
7. Fail to focus.
8. Believe that people feel and think the same way you do.
9. Think everyone's smile is genuine.
10. Ignore details.
11. Confuse activity with action.
12. Forgive everyone but yourself.
13. Treat people as expendable objects.
14. Procrastinate.
15. Swing for home runs instead of base hits.
16. Ignore small problems until they become big ones.
17. Become smug and associate with smug people.
18. Never acknowledge the achievements of yourself or others.
19. Expect life to be fair.
20. Don't get up after you've fallen.
21. Underestimate the power of the incremental.
22. Rush to judge others.
23. Never judge others.
24. Don't take time to be kind.
25. Emphasize the prose and forget the poetry.