8 Traits To Success

We are success seeking machines and as such, we are happiest when pursuing a worthy goal.

Now, I don’t know what your “next thing” — your next goal — might be. It could be a a new relationship, or a family objective. It may be connected with inner growth, or with your physical health.

But whatever it is, whatever you’ve resolved to accomplish, are you actually going to follow through? Will you keep at it with dogged focus?

Whatever your dreams and intentions turns out to be, there is one thing I know with absolute certainty. If you did not take the time to acquire the eight success traits we will discuss, your dreams are already in jeopardy even before you begin.

How do I know this?

Because the right skills, personal traits and expectations is the difference between success and failure when pursuing your dreams.

All things being equal…

The person in possession of the 8 success traits either through inheritance or personal development will out perform the one who is lacking. So what are these 8 magical success traits?

Here’s my shortlist of abilities, skills and personal characterists that virtually all consistently successful people possess.

1. ENERGY

A basic law of the universe states that energy is neither created or destroyed. Translation: Energy should always be conserved if you wish to have an adequate supply to accomplish your worthy goals. This is an important thing to know.

Maybe you’ve met someone who constantly thought about only one hobby or one idea. Such people tend to have tremendous energy for their one main interest, but can generate little energy for doing anything else.

On the other hand, you’ve seen folks who have hundreds of competing interests, duties, “have-to-do’s” and “shoulds” sucking away their time. Often, these people can barely drag themselves through the day.

So how do you increase your storehouse of energy using this knowledge?

You concentrate… you focus… you specialize. You pick the one thing that’s most important to you, and you give most of your attention to that one thing.

As long as you let your attention be pulled this way and that by anything that pops up in front of you, energy will continue to be a problem for you.

Of course, you’re going to tell me that you couldn’t possibly stop spending your time and energy on all those things cluttering up your life.

Okay… that’s one way. Is it working?

2. DECISIVENESS

The ability to make decisions fast but change them slowly (if at all) is one of the markers of high achievers. Meanwhile, the opposite — lingering long over decisions, but changing them often — that’s the most common characteristic of non-achievers.

The ability to be decisive is a skill just like any other, and it CAN be developed. How do you do it? Read on… there’s another aspect to this trait.

3. PERSISTENCE

Persistence is the other side of the coin to decisiveness and you rarely have one without the other.

A decision is only as good as your ability to stay the course until that decision bears fruit. Persistence is another hallmark of high achievers. They do whatever it takes to accomplish what they’ve made up their mind to do.

Want proof of this? Go read some biographies. You’ll see this pattern emerging again and again.

Early in the last century, Calvin Coolidge wrote…

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

So how do you develop the skill of persistence if you lack it? It starts with deciding to.

4. DISCIPLINE

High achievers are also disciplined. This trait keeps them focused and prevents them from scattering their energies and time in all directions.

Discipline isn’t complicated. It isn’t really even hard. It only takes deciding to set some guidelines and limits, then sticking to them. Yes, even when you’re getting bored with the task at hand and it doesn’t seem very creative at the moment.

5. UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

Dream champions are masters of having unrealistic expectations. Observation shows that highly motivated, highly successful people are just not very realistic. Their psychological profiles reveal them to be far more optimistic than average about possible outcomes.

This unrealistic expectation of everything always supporting their highest good, is what keeps them in the game, when most realistic folks quit. And it’s these overly optimistic people who end up doing the impossible things that inspire the rest of us, winning when the odds are all against them.

6. WILLINGNESS TO LEARN NEW THINGS

Almost all successful people are voracious learners. They recognize that in order to earn more they must first become more. The things they want to achieve always require more knowledge, more skills, more expertise, more awareness – require that they become a bigger and better person than they are now.

So they go out and get what they need. They learn the knowledge. They practice and acquire new skills, constantly learning and exploring new viewpoints and perspectives.

Usually, they don’t fool around with night classes in junior college. They’ll typically go straight to the source. Hire a highly rated coach who knows the territory. Seek out introductions to leading people in their field of interest. Dive into total-immersion experiences headfirst.

Their goal is never to waste time; it’s to get things done, preferably in as straight a line as possible.

7. WILLINGNESS TO MAKE MANY MISTAKES

Achievers don’t mind making mistakes. The reason they don’t mind is because they don’t stop and stay there. They quickly assess results, make adjustments, and try something else. They move forward.

They keep at it until they make progressively smarter mistakes, involving increasingly smaller errors, until their mistakes are indistinguishable from the target. Dream achievers consistently look upon mistakes as opportunities to achieve even more.

Mistakes are good — when you know how to use them properly.

8. ASSOCIATE WITH PEOPLE OUT OF THEIR LEAGUE

One of the most important characteristics of all for achievers is the way they actively seek out other, even higher achievers to be around. They know that who you choose to associate with will dramatically influence your ability to succeed. Do not be intimated but actively seek out those that have achieved more than you.

BUT DON’T DESPAIR

Now, if you don’t have these 8 winning traits, don’t get discouraged. Nobody has all of them when they start. No, not even the highest achievers. They work at it, developing their skills and their character over time, becoming more tomorrow than they were yesterday.

And you can too.

You’ll make mistakes, sure, but now you know how to make progressively smarter mistakes. Mistakes that will carry you forward to higher and higher achievement. And a pride in knowing that you DO get the important things done… you DO change your world for the better…