  Galactic black hole candidate (BHC) GX~339-4 underwent several outbursting
phases in the past two and a half decades at irregular intervals of $2-3$
years. Nature of these outbursts in terms of the duration, number of peaks,
maximum peak intensity, etc. varies. We present a possible physical reason
behind the variation of outbursts. From a physical point of view, if the supply
of matter from the companion is roughly constant, the total energy release in
an outburst is expected to be proportional to the quiescence period prior to
the outburst when the matter is accumulated. We use archival data of RXTE/ASM
from January 1996 to June 2011, and MAXI/GSC from August 2009 to July 2020
data. Initial five outbursts of GX~339-4 between 1997 and 2011 were observed by
ASM and showed a good linear relation between the accumulation period and the
amount of energy released in each outburst, but the outbursts after 2013
behaved quite differently. The 2013, $2017-18$, and $2018-19$ outbursts were of
short duration, and incomplete or `failed' in nature. We suggest that the
matter accumulated during the quiescence periods prior to these outbursts were
not cleared through accretion due to lack of viscosity. The leftover matter was
cleared in the immediate next outbursts. Our study thus sheds light on long
term accretion dynamics in outbursting sources.
