The road to success is full of land mines. Here are 5 that you need to avoid:

1. Later. This is a way of avoiding personal responsibility for procrastinating, so eliminate it from your vocabulary. As a reminder, write the word “later” on a piece of paper and put a big X through it. Then post it somewhere prominent as a reminder that you’ll never let procrastination be the cause of losing money again.

2. Passion. John and Paul (the Beatles, not the apostles) said, “All you need is love!” That may be true, but it doesn’t apply to passion. Passion only works if it’s yoked to purpose. So be passionate about reaching specific business goals – because that’s how you achieve success.

3. Patience. Okay, okay, I know your mom told you this is a virtue. I would never argue with your mom – but, when it comes to running your business, a little impatience can sometimes be a good thing. And, just so you don’t have to waste time looking it up, impatience is defined as: eagerly desirous, not accepting delay or opposition, intolerant of interruptions, eager for something expected, dislike of anything that causes delay. Get the idea?

4. Rational. Don’t be. At least don’t get so hung up on following a rational path that you fail to trust your own instincts. Patricia Routledge, the famous British actress said, “You can accomplish anything if you’re not concerned with the consequences.” Obviously, none of us wants to run our business into the ground by being reckless, but operating “outside the box” can frequently lead to irrational success. Just ask Ray Kroc.

5. Failure to specialize. Do what you do and do it better than anyone else. It’s better to be the best at one thing than just adequate at a lot of things. After all, your customers expect it.