Bill Gates - Founder of Microsoft
*This blog post is Part 1 of a 5-part series on ‘The 77 Traits of highly Successful People‘.
We all want to be better, wiser, richer and hence, more successful. So the common sense thing to do would be to know and understand how successful people think and act. And the next common sense thing to do is to talk to them and read about them.
Successful people possess certain qualities and follow certain rules and that is why they’re able to achieve what they’ve set out to achieve. These are what separate them from everybody else.
The list below is not one that simply rolls out a bunch of feel good ideas. This is a list of the traits that highly successful people possess, which I’ve found out over the years after talking to many of the successful people I know and reading a multitude of books on success and successful people.
The reason of me compiling this list is that I thought it would be a good idea to clarify the lessons I’ve learnt about what it takes to be successful – clarity is power.
Also, I thought you might be interested to know what they are, or perhaps you already know but would think it’d be a good idea if someone sorted it out for you. So now I’m happily passing on to you all these important points with this huge list. The list is in no particular order of importance.
If you’re ready, let’s get started.
The 77 Traits of Highly Successful People – Part 1 (Trait 1 – 15)
1. Do What You Love
“When you’re happy doing what you love, you’ve already won.” – Jack Canfield
Highly successful people absolutely love what they do. They’re having so much fun doing what they do that it no longer seems like work to them anymore. And because they love what they do, they dedicate so much time to it that they naturally become an expert in it.
2. Take 100% Responsibility
They assume 100 percent responsibility for everything they experience in their lives. When things go wrong, they don’t make excuses; they don’t blame everyone and everything else; and they take actions to turn things around instead of complaining about it like most people would.
3. Take Actions
As mentioned above, successful people take actions. Not just actions, they take massive actions. They understand that things don’t get done by talking; things get done by doing. In essence, action is the key to greatness.
4. Expect the Best of Yourself
As for this, I think Michael Jordan says it best:
“I expect more from myself. More than anyone would ever dare to expect from me.”
You don’t have to be the best, but you have to be the best that you can be. You can fail everyone else, but never fail yourself by not giving your best shot. And to bring out the best in you, you need to benchmark yourself against the very best in your field.
5. Decide What You Want
The main reason why highly successful people get what they want in life is because they take the time and effort to seriously think about what exactly it is that they want. They define their desires in clear and gripping detail.
Another reason is they never settle for anything less. Once they’ve made up their mind on a goal, they charge ahead regardless of what other people say. They never allow anyone to steal their dreams.
6. Dream Big
“If you are going to think at all, you might as well think big.” – Donald Trump
Highly successful people choose to be the best that they can be and live the best life they can have. They never settle for anything less. So, they will only have big dreams because nobody makes it big by dreaming small.
It doesn’t cost you a damn thing to dream. If you don’t even dare to dream, what do you dare to do? There is no limit to what you can dream of. The only limit you have is the limit you put on yourself. You can be as big or as small as you make up your mind to be.
7. Believe in Yourself
Other people judge you based on what you have achieved. But you have to judge yourself based on what you believe you can achieve.
Successful people follow their heart, trust their own instinct, and have absolute faith in themselves.
8. Believe It’s Possible
“Some men see things as they are and say ‘Why?’ I dream things that never were and ask ‘Why not?’” – George Bernard Shaw
It’s very common that people will ridicule your ideas as absurd or simply not workable. In fact, that appears to be a good sign to many of the successful people because they believe that when everybody is against your idea, you just might be on to something great.
9. Make Unfaltering Commitment to Your Goals
They are 100 percent committed to achieving their goals. They feel that they’d be betraying their own soul if they don’t make it a must to achieve their goals.
10. Be Absolutely Focused
They are always a master of something rather than a jack-of-all-trades. And to become a master, they are absolutely focused in doing what they’re doing because they understand that it takes a tremendous amount of time and effort to excel in a particular field.
11. Stay Positive in the Face of Challenges
As the saying goes, “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.” The reason why successful people are able to keep going when things seem to be falling apart is because they have a positive attitude.
They never seem to worry too much. That is not to say they don’t give a hoot. They just have so much belief in themselves that they ‘know’ they will eventually get to where they want to be. They see challenges or obstacles as nothing more than a slight delay to their destination.
12. Be a Person of Value
Nobody pays you for the job you get done. They pay you for the value you’ve created with the job you get done.
Successful people understand that it is value that people are paying for so they always seek to create a lot of value.
13. Embrace Failures
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” – Henry Ford
Successful people don’t believe in failure. They only believe in feedback. To them, failure is simply life’s way of telling you that you’re not doing things quite correctly, so go do it again. Real failure occurs only when you give up.
14. See Problems as Opportunities
The best metaphor to this would be ‘make lemonade out of lemons’. Problems may be an opportunity to learn a big lesson, or an opportunity to make big money. Either way, you get to gain in a big way.
15. Be Honest
Lies and dishonesty will be exposed over time. When exposed, you’ll lose your credibility and put a stigma on your reputation, which it will be extremely difficult for you to restore.
Being honest will help you gain support, respect, and credibility, which are some of the crucial elements that will determine your success.
This is the end of Part 1 of the 5-part series. In the next post, you’ll get the list of Trait 16 – 30.
Cheers~
(Update: Read Part 2 here)
P.S. If you have any views or comments, I’d love to hear from you!
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on Mar 23rd, 2009 at 5:30 pm
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on Mar 25th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Mark,
I agree with 100 percent of what you wrote. It’s interesting to note that none of these traits are inborn. You didn’t say you need to be the smartest or the most talented. Too many people let those ideas hold them back. But really it’s attitude and action that makes someone successful. I’ve met plenty of really smart people who aren’t going anywhere because they don’t have these traits. I’ve also met some none too bright people who are wildly successful because they use each of these traits.
Makes you wonder if how we measure intelligence need to be rethought!
on Mar 26th, 2009 at 1:56 am
Hi Andrea,
Thank you for your comment. You’re absolutely right to say that it’s attitude and action that make someone successful. Though it’s good to be smart too, it’s not a deciding factor whether you’ll be successful in life.
I once watched a documentary on tv about a Taiwanese entrepreneur. She has a below average IQ, which means she’s less intellectual than the majority of people. Yet she did not let her below average IQ handicap her. She took it upon herself to prove to people that she too, could be successful.
With a great deal of determination and persistence, she now runs a small, but successful chain of spas in Taiwan.
I like reading or watching stories like this because they’re really inspiring. These are stories, which after reading or watching, you’ll be able to tell yourself, “If he/she can do it, I can do it!”
Cheers~
Mark
on Mar 26th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
[...] If you’ve missed Part 1 and 2, please read them here and here [...]
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on Apr 12th, 2009 at 1:49 am
[...] it all at once, I’ve previously split it up into a 5 – part series which you can start with Part 1 here. Part 1-4 reveals 15 of the 77 success traits each, with Part 5 concluding with the last 17 [...]