3 Reasons Toxic People Want You to Fail
Oct 13, 2025 2:01 pm
3 Reasons Toxic People Want You to Fail
I don’t care who you are. At some point in your life, if you go after something, you’re going to deal with toxic people who want you to fail. And if you don’t understand why they want you to fail, they’ll be successful in helping you do so.
So in this newsletter, I’m going to give you three reasons toxic people want you to fail, so you can know them and be able to fight them off when you see them in your life.
1. Ambition exposes their laziness
When I first started my professional speaking journey, I knew a guy who was also interested in becoming a speaker. We used to text all the time and became friends.
What I didn’t know was that he was extremely lazy—something I only discovered after spending time with him. I would tell him everything he needed to do to become a professional speaker, but he never followed through.
He always had an excuse.
Something always came up that kept him from taking the actions necessary to become a speaker. One day I gave a speech at a school, and it completely bombed. I was so upset and I told him about it. He rarely called me, but that day he did.
On the phone, he had a high-pitched tone and asked, “Oh, you bombed your speech. Are you thinking about quitting? Are you going to give it up? Maybe it’s not for you?”
The more I talked, the more I realized he was celebrating my failure.
This person was toxic. He celebrated because my ambition reminded him of his own laziness.
You need to understand this: toxic people want you to fail because your drive highlights their inaction. Protect your dream by not sharing it with toxic, lazy people.
2. Your initiative puts pressure on them
You may not realize that when you take the initiative, it puts pressure on other people. When I worked in the corporate world, we had a monthly productivity target.
I remember looking at the goal and thinking, I can blow this out of the water. So I focused on making as many calls as I could each week. Instead of completing about 15 calls a day, I started doing 25.
One day a coworker said, “Gene, if you keep working this hard and hitting these numbers, the company will use you as an excuse to raise everyone’s productivity.” I had to decide: would I let my initiative make me step back because I didn’t want to pressure others, or would I keep doing my best?
I chose to do my best and kept making 25 calls a day. My coworker was right — it raised everyone’s productivity.
Understand this: when you take initiative, it will put pressure on toxic people who prefer to do the minimum.
If you’re the kind of person who refuses to do anything but the best in your work, you’ll make them uncomfortable, and some will want to see you fail. Despite that, don’t let up. Keep working hard, because in the end you’ll succeed.
3. They envy your confidence
And the last reason toxic people want to see you fail is they envy your confidence. I remember when I first started shooting videos and posting on Instagram.
A guy used to come to my inbox and always had something negative to say. Keep in mind that when I started, I was terrified. I had little confidence, but I had the courage to put myself out there.
Every time I checked my inbox, he’d say, “You don’t speak well,” “You sound like an idiot,” “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” and other negative things.
After two years of that, I replied one day and asked, “Man, what’s your problem? You send me these messages all the time. Why do you always hate on me and my videos?”
What shocked me was his answer.
He said, “First of all, I’m shocked you even replied. I know you saw my messages because I can see the “seen” messages in the inbox. But I’ll be honest with you: I want to shoot videos like you. I don’t know why I keep attacking you, but you’re doing what I want to do. I see that you’re confident at it, and I wish I had that confidence.”
You see, this toxic individual envied my confidence. I was doing something he wanted to do. Instead of finding the courage to put himself out there, he attacked me because he wanted to see me fail.
When you go after something in life—no matter what you’re trying to accomplish—you’ll encounter toxic people who envy your confidence.
Despite that, I want to encourage you to keep taking action. Keep believing in yourself. Don’t listen to those toxic individuals because You Are WORTHY TO BE GREAT!
P.S. Imagine what you could achieve if you stopped letting toxic people get the best of you. It all starts with your mindset and self-discipline.
If you struggle with these areas, my premium ebook, WORTHY TO BE GREAT, can help you develop the confidence and mindset needed to achieve your goals.
Click the link below to get my premium ebook today.
