self-made
unsucceeding
ambitionless
beat the odds
unambitious
miss
strike out
unsuccessfully
failure
to no avail
downstat
manage
self-handicap
successlessness
done
slim chance
fat chance
strike out looking
nonfailure
successlessly
helplessly
unlikely
short
fall seven times, stand up eight
like a ripe plum
underprivileged
draw a blank
unaccomplished
Hail Mary pass
chanceless
hands-down
to little avail
pull oneself up by one's bootstraps
halfhearted
nonfulfilment
languish
nonattempt
unattaining
futile
unaspiring
coaster
unmotivated
fall back
underachieve
nonsuccessful
unendeavored
try as one may
nonfulfilled
go nowhere
in one go
miscarry
unsuccessful
fail
omit
go wrong
in vain
dead on the vine
open
disappointed
inability
no-goal
thwarted
discomfited
nondependence
dinq
scrape
tight
defeated
parsimonious
forlorn
frustrated
baffle
if the mountain won't come to Muhammad
whistle for
foiled
back the wrong horse
ambitionlessness
unsuccess
unsucceeded
way out of a paper bag
let the grass grow under one's feet
shiftlessness
passivity
try for
ungainsaid
go for
midlist
nonsuccess
miss the mark
spoiler
salami technique
attemptless
plough one's own furrow
under one's own steam
punt
win the battle, but lose the war
pull a Homer
ambitionlessly