4. Self-Limitation: Often by self-handicapping we determine to actually damage our own performance to make sure our self-esteem remains unharmed. This can be very well highlighted in a situation when a student remain awake the whole night in order to prepare for the test if he or she fails they have a very good reason, whereas, if he or she passes the test they get to swank about the success in spite of not studying. In today’s competitive business world, people do this kind of bragging all the time. Anyone in the workplace who has postponed a difficult work assignment feels guilty till the eleventh hour. According to Sam, self-handicapping is the most common way people hold themselves back from progressing in their career. It is quite simple to validate a lack of career progression when we destabilize our own efforts.

5. Do Social evaluation: If we suddenly come across the fact that we really are not better-than-average as in if one fine morning we discover that a person we see as our equal unexpectedly becomes more successful than us. We tend to start comparing ourselves to the least successful people we are familiar of. To justify this, the author gives an interesting fact to support that, sometimes, there’s nothing like other people’s struggles to make us feel better about our own troubles.