Why do people continuously counteract their own interests? I want to know, really. I’m not talking about the self-destructive persons who treat themselves badly due to mental illness or full-on druggies (who most definitely also are self-destructive). No, I’m for the moment more interested in the whys and wants of ordinary people messing up their own business. People who despite to excellent starting positions proceed to sweep such obstacles as a healthy intelligence, good economy, broad set of friends and business contacts and similar stuff clean away with a unerring precision. Yes, the ones who even when faced with repeated opportunities to save the situation managed to snatch the defeat from the jaws of victory. Not long ago I feared that I myself belonged to this group of highly effective social (and economic) self-abusers. I remember the proceedings which lead to me failing with my final essay back at school. At start things looked most satisfactory. I had one excellent idea for the piece and my professor had provided me with a most effective survey tool for the gathering of information. Everything was set. But just a few days later mind stared running in the most ruinous ways. Perhaps I should change my central theme and why not shun that static survey tool and conduct old school phone-interviews? And that’s what I did. I don’t have the time or space to explain exactly how things went down after that. All I can say is that it ended (relatively) catastrophically. The essay didn’t get done in time. I had to wait six months to get another stab at it and I missed out on a couple of high-pay gigs. Don’t do this. If things seem good, they probably are.