That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well. (Abraham Lincoln)
Highly successful people share certain universal characteristics and habits that could make them to be truly very effective in whatever they do. Successful people are good in four areas: relationships, equipping, attitude and leadership. Successful people are successful precisely because they formed the habit of doing things that failures do not like to do. If you do not consciously form good habits, you will unconsciously form bad ones. We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit. We make habits out of feeling frustrated, worried, anxious or overwhelmed. But it is these disempowering habits that prevent us from doing what we are really capable of. Successful people choose good habits over bad habits. Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
Quality is not an act, it is a habit.
(Aristotle)
The individual who wants to be successful in life must appreciate the might and force of habit. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him — and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires. Destroy your bad habits or they will destroy you. Characteristics or attitudes are nothing more than habits of thought and habits can be acquired. Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike. Character is the only way to sustain success. Success is a matter of understanding and religiously practicing specific, simple habits that always lead to success. Your attitude, not your aptitude, determines your altitude. Attitude is everything. Radiate positivity and you will attract positive outcomes. Your attitude determines your direction. Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference. A great attitude becomes a great mood, which becomes a great day, which becomes a great year, which becomes a great life. For success, attitude is equally as important as ability. A bad attitude is like a flat tire; you can’t go anywhere until you change it. Do you exhibit any of these personality traits?
These traits are success secrets:
- Successful people have ambition and goals. The secret of your success is determined by your daily agenda. Ambition is the first step to success. The second step is action. Let the power of your own ambition take you where you want to go, to do what you want to do, to create the life you want to live. Success breeds success. Your successes fuel your ambition. And they pave the way for more successes. Before you can pursue success, you need to understand what it is and what it isn’t. Success is steady progress toward one’s personal goals. A goal is a dream with a deadline. Goals are dreams we convert into plans and take action to fulfill. Therefore, setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. Unless you have definite, precise, clear set goals, you are not going to realize the maximum potential that lies within you. A goal properly set is halfway reached. Goal setting is a very important first step, but goal achievement is a continuous, lifelong process. A meaningful goal-setting process can help you master any area of your life and create the real, lasting change you desire. All goal setting must be immediately followed by both the development of a plan, and massive and consistent action toward its fulfillment. The secret to unleashing your true power is setting goals that are exciting enough to ignite your passion. Set goals that make you want to jump out of bed in the morning. Goals give you a direction and destination. Direction is so much more important than speed. Many are going nowhere fast. Goals give you focus. While a life purpose gives you a general direction, your goals give you focus as to what exactly to spend your time and energy on. Goals give you a starting point and a destination to reach. Written goals help you to see where you are going, what changes you need to make and if you are progressing towards your prize. To achieve your life goals, you must make sacrifices, stay committed, overcome challenges and work your plans. Goals are like magnets. They will attract the things that make them come true. When you have a goal, you start by thinking about the end result and what that should look like. This allows you to visualize what you will achieve and map the most direct route to accomplish that goal. The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them. Write down all of your dreams. Put them in the order in which you will actually try to attain them. Always have a goal you are working towards. Remember, always move toward action – not just dreaming. When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it. You need to give thought, but you also need to take action. You need to dream without just being a dreamer. You have to be before you can do, and do before you can have. To have the ambition to work toward a successful life, you have to live it every moment. Your direction, activities, and disciplines all make up crucial links in your chain of success. Learn how to create a chain of success that will lead you to your goals. The level of your success is limited only by your imagination. Your only limit is you. Never give yourself limitations. Always strive to be better. Your opinion of yourself becomes your reality. Don’t downgrade your dream to fit your reality, upgrade your dream to match your destiny. The future you see is the future you get. Always remember to fall asleep with a dream and wake up with a purpose.
Goals. There’s no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There’s no telling what you can do when you believe in them. And there’s no telling what will happen when you act upon them. Don’t set your goals too low. If you don’t need much, you won’t become much. (Jim Rohn)
- Successful people ACT. Successful people are DOERS. All successful people are tireless workers. Positive thoughts are not enough. There must be positive feelings and positive actions. Never hope for it more than you work for it. If you want something you never had, you have to do something you’ve never done. Getting goals takes action! Action is the foundational key to all success. Successful people let their learning lead to knowledge and action. They put their knowledge and what they plan to do into practice. And they will finish what they start and leave no room for regrets. They will be satisfied with nothing but their best. Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, but successful people make it happen. The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work. Your ideas never work unless you do. You accomplish in proportion to what you attempt. You can’t do anything by doing nothing. The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential — these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence. Passion can take you far. To be passionate about what you do, you got to love what you do, because people rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Because you never achieve success unless you like what you are doing. Dreams are only dreams until you wake up and make them real. You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine. The number one skill that will allow you to succeed at anything is the ability to take a variety of action items and group them together, orienting them toward a common intention and result. Every day do something that will bring you closer to a better tomorrow. Success doesn’t just come and find you, you have to go out and get it. Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming. The measure of who you are is what you do with what you have. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow. Do something today your future self will thank you for. You cannot change your life until you change something you do every day. The difference between dreams and reality is called action. You will only get what you work for. Nothing more, nothing less. Stop wishing for it and start working for it. Stop dreaming! Start doing! Nothing will work unless you do. The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do.
God helps those who work, not those who are idle. No one helps an inactive person, but one who joins in the labor. The good God himself will bring this work to perfection. (St. John Chrysostom)
- Successful people love what they do. That is why they are able to strive to do everything to the best of their abilities. Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming. A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do. Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.
- Successful people are enthusiastic and passionate. Successful people have the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm. Because they are enthusiastic, they always do extra to the ordinary things ordinary people do. Enthusiasm makes the difference. That is why they are extraordinary people. They are always willing to go the extra mile to do more than what they are required to do to reach their goal. Why the extra mile? Because they do all things with love. Enthusiasm is the magic ingredient that can make the difference between success and failure. People who succeed at the highest level are not lucky; they’re doing something differently than everyone else does. Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well. Hard work without enthusiasm leads to tedium. Enthusiasm without industriousness leads to unrealized potential. When combined, they cement a solid foundation. There is always room in your life for thinking bigger, pushing limits, imagining the unimaginable. You did not wake up today to be mediocre. Go the extra mile. A passionate belief in your business and personal objectives can make all the difference between success and failure. If you aren’t proud of what you’re doing, why should anybody else be? Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know. Be the best version of you.
- Successful people have the right faith that leads to the right attitude. The way successful people think and feel about someone or something is different from losers. Your beliefs are the one thing that can carry you forward and hold you back at the same time. Before you change your thinking, you have to change what goes into your mind. Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right. What you feed your mind determines your appetite. What consumes your mind, controls your life. When you start thinking and saying what you really want, then your mind automatically shifts and pulls you in that direction. And sometimes it can be that simple — just a little twist in vocabulary that illustrates your attitude and philosophy. If you want to amend your errors, you must begin by amending your philosophy. Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out. You must learn a new way of thinking before you can master a new way to be. If you want to change what you do in order to achieve a better result, you must ultimately change what you believe about something. Positive thoughts generate positive feelings and attract positive life experiences. Every positive thought propels you in the right direction. Your minds literally go in the direction of your words. What you think, you become. What you tell yourself every day will either lift you up or tear you down. One small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day. A few verbal affirmations throughout the day will go a long way toward lifting your spirits. If you don’t see yourself as a winner then you cannot perform as a winner. What the mind can conceive, it can achieve. Your mind is a powerful thing. When you fill it with positive thoughts, your life will begin to change. Change your thoughts and you’ll change your world. Be the change you want to see happen. Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will. Being negative only makes a difficult journey more difficult. Look for something positive each day, even if some days you have to look a little harder. Almost every successful person begins with two beliefs: The future can be better than the present, and I have the power to make it so. Believe you can and you’re halfway there. If you don’t set a baseline standard for what you’ll accept in life, you’ll find it’s easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes or a quality of life that’s far below what you deserve. You cannot change circumstances, but you can change yourself. You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. Your mind is a garden. Your thoughts are seeds. You can grow flowers or you can grow weeds. The more you meditate upon good thoughts, the better will be your world and the world at large. You change the way you live by changing the way you think. Replace those thoughts of worry with thoughts of hope, faith, and victory. To be successful, you have to believe in yourself when nobody else will. A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success. Set your mind on possibility. The limit is not the sky, it’s in your mind. You can have anything you want if you are willing to give up the belief that you can’t have it. Faith consists of believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. Faith is daring the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see. If you have faith, nothing will be impossible for you. Therefore, be a dreamer, a doer, a believer that anything is possible.
When we once begin to form good resolutions, God gives us every opportunity of carrying them out. (St. John Chrysostom)
- Successful people have conviction. The first and most important step toward success is the feeling that you can succeed. In order to succeed, you must first believe that you can. Successful people have the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. They have deep-belief of what they want to do with their life and how to achieve it. They are steadfast; firm in mind and purpose. The height of their success is determined by the depth of their belief. They set their goals high, and don’t stop till they get there. They know that conviction never so excellent, is worthless until it converts itself into conduct. If you don’t love what you do, you won’t do it with much conviction or passion. In order to be successful, you must stick to your conviction, but be ready to abandon your assumptions. The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It’s your mind you have to convince. The body achieves what the mind believes. If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything. Your beliefs about what you are and what you can be, precisely determine what you will be.
- Successful people focus on what matters. Concentrate all your thoughts on the task at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. Whatever you focus on the longest becomes the strongest – good or bad. The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear. One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular. Discover what your strength is to know how to create your map for success. When you change your focus, you change your life. You have to change your focus from ‘what do you have to do’ to ‘what’s your outcome’ and ‘what’s most important to you.’ That one change will change completely how you respond to your life. Stop worrying about what you have to lose and start focusing on what you have to gain. Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.
- Successful people are able to prioritize. Their prioritizing skills will allow them to focus on what is important first. The key to success is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. Do things in the proper order; do not skip things that you should do first. The most important thing should be thought about or done before any other. To really effect positive change in your lives, you need to reorganize the way you spend your time that is based on the concept of importance — not urgency. Stop daydreaming, start prioritizing and wring every beautiful minute out of every beautiful day.
- Successful people plan. A goal without a plan is just a wish. Successful people have a plan and they do whatever it takes to make it happen. They have visions and they are highly organized. They are very effective because they have the strategies to function within a formal orderly structure. That is why successful people are great at multitasking. If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. If you don’t have a plan, you become part of somebody else’s plan. Life is too short to be living someone else’s dream. Most of the people don’t plan for their life and thus unknowingly works to fulfill somebody else’s plan. Without planning what your day will look like, you wake up not knowing what you want to do or accomplish. Stop looking at others who live the good life, wishing that you were as well, and instead begin to commit to your improvement. Develop a plan and act on it. Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure. That is why successful people try to learn from the past so that they could make a better plan for the future, but they plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan. You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. (Benjamin Franklin)
- Successful people are prudent in everything they do. Prudence is the number one characteristic of highly successful people. Successful people do not only have the ability to handle practical matters with good and sound judgment, but also with regard to appropriate actions to be taken at any given time and place. They always act with care and thought for the future. Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes. No matter the situation, never let your emotions overpower your intelligence.
- Successful people are committed. Doing anything in life requires a commitment to achieve it, not just the desire to achieve it. Successful people are committed wholeheartedly to achieving their goals. They commit to being the best in their fields of endeavor. Without commitment, there can be no success. Unless commitment is made, there are only promises and hopes; but no plans. The only limit to the impact of your success is your imagination and commitment. There is always time if you are committed. To be successful, you have to commit to personal growth daily. Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal — a commitment to excellence — that will enable you to attain the success you seek. The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. Commitment to the development of your creativity is the key to success. Committing to success begins with saying “I can!” and “I will do it right now!” People committed to success just go for it; they do everything they must in order to assure success. They got what they wanted because they finished what they started.
- Successful people have determination. The reason some people experience success while others fail is that successful people are determined to be successful. Determination is a trait found in the world’s most successful people. Determination gives you the resolve to keep going in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you. Failure will never overtake you if your determination to succeed is strong enough. Anything worth achieving will always have obstacles in the way and you’ve got to have that determination to overcome those obstacles on route to whatever it is that you want to accomplish. If you want something badly enough, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse. What separates you from successful people are the excuses you make. Therefore, be stronger than your strongest excuses.
- Successful people are persistent. Ambition is the path to success, persistence is the vehicle you arrive in. The most essential trait found in successful people is persistence — the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come. Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure. Success is almost totally dependent upon drive and persistence. The extra energy required to make another effort or try another approach is the secret of winning. Successful people are prepared to fail more, and they are more persistent than others. They refuse to give up or let go, and they can continue firmly in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition. What sets the successful ones apart is their amazing persistence. When the world says GIVE UP, successful people will try it one more time. Giving up is simply not an option. Never give up. Great things take time. A river cuts through a rock not because of its power, but its persistence. Through perseverance many people achieve success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure. In order to be successful, you need to be consistently persistent. Studies show that the one quality all successful people have is persistence. They are willing to spend more time accomplishing a task and to persevere in the face of many difficult odds. They don’t let anyone stand in their way of achieving their goal or fulfilling their vision. There is a very positive relationship between people’s ability to accomplish any task and the time they’re willing to spend on it. Do not give up, the beginning is always the hardest. A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success. Never give up on something you really want. It’s difficult to wait. But worse to regret.
It looks like the thing that separates out the capable students from the really successful ones is not so much their knowledge…but their persistence at something. (Eric Schmidt, Google chairman)
- Successful people are diligent and prolific. Anything worth having takes work. That is why successful people are hardworking. Because they love what they do for living, they are happy to work diligently for long hours. They are highly productive and very effective because they are diligent doers who do not like to procrastinate. That is why successful people are prolific, able to produce in large quantities or with great frequency. You can’t reach your dreams unless you know precisely how much it will take to get there. Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work. There is no substitute for hard work. No matter how carefully you plan your goals they will never be more than pipe dreams unless you diligently pursue them. The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. Nobody’s a natural. You work hard to get good and then work to get better. It’s hard to stay on top. Push yourself, because no one else is going to do it for you. Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still. There will be obstacles. There will be doubts. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, there are no limits. Good things come to those who wait but better things come to those who work for it.
Success is dependent on effort. (Sophocles)
- Successful people are consistent. The secret of success is consistency of purpose. The key to success is consistency. Consistency builds discipline, disciplined actions done consistently create success. Continuous effort is the key to unlocking your potential. Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals. Successful people do the same things over and over again until they become the master of the things they do. They direct their lives by taking control of their consistent actions, because they know that success is the sum of small efforts, repeated daily. Learn how to stay consistent and dedicated to your goals. It doesn’t matter how talented you are. It doesn’t matter how many opportunities you receive. If you want to grow, consistency is key, because long term consistency trumps short term intensity. It is not what you do once in a while that shapes your life, but what you do consistently. To be a consistent winner means preparing not just one day, one month or even one year — but for a lifetime. If you are persistent, you will get it. If you are consistent, you will keep it. Throughout your life, you must constantly adhere to sound principles and all characteristics, habits, and traits mentioned in this article, and constantly changing to reach perfection. In order to succeed and be happy, you’ve got to be constantly improving the quality of your life, growing and expanding.
I keep the subject of my inquiry constantly before me, and wait till the first dawning opens gradually, by little and little, into a full and clear light. (Sir Isaac Newton)
- Successful people are self disciplined. Their ability to exert self-control allows them to control their emotions, behavior and desires in order to achieve their goals. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. Discipline is doing what needs to be done even if you don’t want to do it. The backbone of an eager desire to change is discipline. True ambition is disciplined, eager desire. With self-discipline most anything is possible. The first and best victory is to conquer self. Before you can conquer a mountain, you need to conquer yourself. Mastering others is strength. But mastering yourself is true power to success. The more concerned you become over the things you can’t control, the less you will do with the things you can control. Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day. Just a few daily disciplines makes a great deal of difference.
It takes discipline to change a habit, because once habits are formed, they act like a giant cable, a nearly unbreakable instinct. (Jim Rohn)
- Successful people understand the value of time. One of the best kept secrets of successful people is the management of time. Successful people don’t like to waste time, because they know the true value of time. They use their time wisely and efficiently. Thus, they are able to complete their tasks in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort. That is why successful people are great multitaskers. Since young, they have taught themselves to perform multi tasks at one time, e.g. reading a book while waiting for their flight. They determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing. Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time. Time properly invested is worth a fortune; time wasted can be devastation. Time invested can perform miracles — so invest yours. If you spend one hour a day on the same subject for ten years, you will be an expert on that subject. Evaluate the hours in your days, and see if there’s a lot of wasted time that you could manage better. Be very careful how you spend the first and last two hours of each day. Use this time to learn a new skill or to plan out the next day goals. Most people are just trying to get through the day. Successful people learn how to get from the day. A little progress each day adds up to big results. Of yesterday nothing remains. What’s left began today. You will never have this day again. Make it count. Make a difference today. Give today everything you’ve got. Let today be the start of something new. What you do today is what matters most. Your mission is to become better today than you were yesterday.
Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back. (Harvey MacKay)
- Successful people do not procrastinate. Success comes to those who do, not to those who wait. Successful people don’t give in to procrastination and laziness, because they have developed a level of commitment that is stronger than the urge to slack off. They do not like to put off or avoiding doing something that must be done. They never put off till tomorrow what they can do today. They will not replace high-priority actions with tasks of low-priority. Small changes can make a big difference. Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned. Sometimes getting something done is better than waiting for it to be perfect. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse. When you lost your excuses, you will find your results. Save the excuses. It’s not about having time, it’s about making time. If it matters, you will make time. If you really want to do something, you will find a way. We all have 86,400 seconds in the day. How are you using yours? Today matters. The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. Make today better than yesterday if you want to have a better tomorrow. Push harder than yesterday if you want a different tomorrow. Days are expensive. When you spend a day you have one less day to spend. So make sure you spend each one wisely. Right now is the best time to transform your life. If you had started doing anything yesterday, by today, you would have been one day better at it. You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight. Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgment, repeated every day. Starting your day earlier can lead to a more successful life. The most important thing is to get started with whatever you have. If there’s anything you’re not happy about, make a decision — RIGHT NOW — about how you’re going to change it immediately. Successful life is about moments; don’t wait for them, create them. Don’t wait until it happens. Make it happen. The expert in anything was once a beginner. The master has failed more times than the beginner has ever tried. The secret of getting ahead is getting started. If you don’t start somewhere, you’re not going to go anywhere. The best time to start is NOW. Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. DO IT NOW. Sometimes later becomes never. Sometimes you never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory. Today is the day you should start building the life you want in the future. You don’t have to be successful to start but you have to start to be successful. Who you are tomorrow begins with what you do today. What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. (Lao Tzu)
- Successful people exercise patience every day. The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want right now. Focus, persistence and patience are three common traits of all successful people, but patience may be the hardest trait to learn. Success takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. And success has its ups and downs. Some days things go your way, but most of the time they don’t. When things don’t go your way, it’s easy to become frustrated and to quit. Most people do. And most people are unsuccessful. But successful people don’t quit. Being patient with ourselves is what allows us to bounce back from adversity. Lack of patience will prevent you from taking up a task on because it seems too difficult, or appears too long to complete. Always end the day with a positive thought. No matter how hard things were, tomorrow is a fresh opportunity to make it better. No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying. Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant. A little progress each day adds up to big results. Don’t give up on what you want most for what you want now.
Be patient in building your financial independence. It will come small steps at a time. It’s hard to be patient sometimes, but it’s just like achieving your goals: It happens one step at a time. (Jim Rohn)
- Successful people are decisive. Successful people are adaptive, prepared to take the initiative, think for themselves and make informed decisions. They are not double minded as they have the ability to make decisions quickly and effectively. Success and failure are not overnight experiences; it’s all the small decisions along the way that cause people to fail or succeed. The most decisive actions of your life that are most likely to decide the whole course of your future are, more often than not, unconsidered. The direction of a man’s thought is always the decisive factor in his personality. His whole outer life will be determined by the inward inclination of his mind. Indecision is the thief of opportunity and enterprise. It will steal your chances for a better future. It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. Whatever you do, don’t camp at the fork in the road. Decide where you want to go and don’t stop until you get there. It’s far better to make a wrong decision than to not make one at all.
- Successful people are innovative. Success is a long journey to take alone. Successful people want to be around people who are successful. Get the support and encouragement you need while growing alongside of many other like-minded people by partnering with them as a team. Successful people are innovative because they understand the value of collaboration. They realize that they need other people. Who you surround yourself with will have a massive impact on you. Therefore, surround yourself with people who are going to lift you higher. Surround yourself with people who push you to be better. Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and the thinkers. But most of all, surround yourself with those who see greatness within you even when you don’t see it yourself. Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than to be in bad company. Stay away from negative people. They have a problem for every solution. Successful people know that ‘none of us is as smart as all of us’ because innovation requires collaboration, ideation, implementation and value creation. That is why they are able to think out of the box. They are able to think differently, unconventionally or from a new perspective. They have the ability to improvise or create something out of ‘nothing.’ Creativity is not a trait that we inherit in our genes. It’s a skill. Anyone can learn to be creative and to get better at it. One of the secrets to success is ideas mixed with inspiration. Be that unusual person who keeps up his learning curve and develops an appetite for always trying to find good ideas. In order to turn nothing into something, you’ve got to start with some ideas and imagination.
If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success. (John D. Rockefeller)
- Successful people are observant. They are inquisitive and very quick to notice and perceive things surrounding them. They know how to initiate new pathways and notice opportunities where others are less observant. They are able to see the whole picture of a problem because they pay attention to details. They are always on the alert for whatever things that can be improved and enhanced. They are always looking for ideas that can be adapted from one filed and applied to another. It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen. Men who wish to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details. People who are not very observant are never very wise. If you constantly strive to learn and to be observant of people and their talents and stay abreast of the ever-changing products and trends that surround you every day, you will have an edge.
If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent. (Sir Isaac Newton)
- Successful people are tenacious. They are persistent in maintaining, adhering to, or seeking something valued or desired. They don’t easily get discouraged, instead, they remain focused while trying to learn something from their mistakes and then proceeds to the next opportunity to success. People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don’t know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to.
- Successful people are resilient. Resilience is defined as “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.” Resilient people know that staying busy not only gets them closer to their goals but it’s also the best way to stay calm. Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit. Successful people are not people who have barrier-free life, but instead they have learned to overcome them. They are successful because they have been able to deal with all sorts of difficulties they have faced. They are able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. They will never give up because they have never-say-die attitude. They are willing to face challenges and, if they fail, they keep trying again and again. Success is not where you are today, but success is what you had to overcome in order to get to where you are today. There is no such thing as easy life. You will not go far in life until you accept that life is full of barriers, detours, and mountains to climb. This is the stuff that life is made of. The strongest people aren’t always the people who win, but the people who never give up when they lose. Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength. To be the best, you must be able to handle the worst. You may be sad, disappointed, heartbroken or even scared. But wake up each day with a new sense of hope, a will to fight on and not give up.
- Successful people are optimistic visionaries. Successful people use visualization to spawn dreams into reality realms. They have optimistic visions of the future. And they are always hopeful of their visions. Because they have hope, they are confidence about the future and successful outcome of something they plan to do. Successful people are successful because they think they can be successful. The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible. The most successful people can visualize a future and see a present, and see the gap. They have a compelling need to eliminate that gap. It’s a compulsion. No matter how many people try to tell them they’re wrong or they won’t succeed, they pursue their vision. People get what they want in life when they reach the point at which they can see themselves having what they seek. Look forward with hope, not backwards with regret. Far too many people have no idea what they can do because all they’ve been told is what they can’t do. Your vision will become clearer when you distance yourself from negativity. If you realize how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought. Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results. Forget all the reasons why it won’t work and believe the one reason it will. Imagine with all your mind. Believe with all your heart. Achieve with all your might. A man without a vision is a man without a future. A man without a future will always return to his past. Successful people are expert at bringing out the good in bad situations.
A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping stone to the optimist. (Eleanor Roosevelt)
- Successful people love challenges. They love to solve problems. Being optimistic gives them the confidence they need to solve any problems. They will look at problems as opportunities to move from a given state to a desired goal state. A winner solves his problems, but a loser is defeated by his problems. Sometimes you face difficulties not because you’re doing something wrong, but because you’re doing something right. It always seems impossible until it’s done. Without struggle there can be no progress. Do the work others are unwilling to do. Tough situations build strong people. The struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow. Therefore, be thankful for your struggles for without them you wouldn’t have discovered your strengths. Your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments in your life. No dream is too big with the right attitude and work ethic. Don’t let small minds convince you that your dreams are too big. Don’t pray for an easy life. Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one.
There is no success without hardship. (Sophocles)
- Successful people are bold and courageous. They are not afraid to stand out from the crowd. They are not afraid of failures nor are they afraid of being ridiculed by others for doing something extraordinary (e.g. trying to create a flying machine when everyone was using horse-drawn vehicle for traveling). Many of us allow fear to prevent us from achieving our goals, but any great achiever will tell you that the secret is to use fear to your advantage. Find the courage to be confident in any situation — that means speaking up for the things you believe in, taking risks and pushing yourself beyond the norm. One small act of courage is all it takes to start something incredible. If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed. Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try. Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start thinking of what could go right. In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure. When you put sustained effort toward improving your weaknesses, you will grow. If you are growing, you are always going to be out of your comfort zone. To improve at anything, you must push yourself beyond your comfort zone. Successful life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. Beyond the mountains of fear is the village of success. You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. The fears you don’t face become your limits. Do what you fear and fear disappears. Ask yourself what is really important and then have the courage to build your life around your answer. If it’s important to you, you will find a way. Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire. Don’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. Everybody wants to be a diamond, but very few are willing to get cut.
- Successful people are humble and open to criticisms. Because they are humble, they are open to criticisms. When criticized, they don’t easily get offended. They respect and value the opinions of others. They love to hear criticisms and feedback so that they could improve on their shortcomings. They look for creative solutions to problems, and don’t dismiss radical alternatives if necessary. They are not afraid to learn from others or correct their mistakes. They do not underestimate the capability of others. They like to find people who disagree with them so that they can make sure that they’re right and they can learn how to improve. More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren’t so busy trying to deny them. Haughtiness can be the great success inhibitor. It can kill opportunities, and it can kill success. Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own capability you cannot be successful. Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility. A rejection is nothing more than a necessary step in the pursuit of success. To be successful, you have to keep your mind open to change all the time. Welcome it. Court it. It is only by examining and reexamining your opinions and ideas that you can progress. Disgust and resolve are two of the great emotions that lead to change. All external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. Be strong when you are weak, brave when you are scared, and humble when you are victorious. Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues.
If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own. (Henry Ford)
- Successful people take responsibility for their action. They take responsibility for the outcomes of their lives. They recognize that every outcome is a direct result of how they think, act and respond to life’s events. They take no comfort in finding excuses for their failures; for they are too busy looking for ways to succeed. Successful people accept responsibility for their failure, but unsuccessful people blame others. People who blame others for their failures never overcome them. They simply move from problem to problem. People who do not take responsibility for their life are unlikely to succeed with making significant changes in their life.
- Successful people are risk takers. They understand risk and reward. They do not gamble but they take calculated risks. They do not get rich by buying lottery or lotto but by taking risk that has been given thoughtful consideration and for which the potential costs and potential benefits have been weighted and considered. A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. The biggest mistake you could ever make is being too afraid to make one. If you don’t take a chance, you don’t stand a chance. We only regret the chances we didn’t take. You have to take risks. Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. If it was easy, everyone would be successful. You must be willing to do the things others won’t in order to have the things others don’t. You will only understand the miracle of life when you allow the unexpected to happen. If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you. Invest in yourself or no one else will.
- Successful people learn continually. They typically view unfavorable outcomes as another opportunity to learn and grow. They are aware of the things they do not know and they create a solid plan to learn more to overcome their shortcomings. Successful people see learning as a continual journey, not something they reach. They are always ready to learn, because they know that he who knows best knows how little he knows. The heart of the prudent gets knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. Their ears are open for knowledge, because they know that an investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. They are not afraid to learn new things. They even learn from the mistakes they made. That is why they are very intelligent and knowledgeable. They know something that others don’t. They always desire to learn something useful, because they know that before anything else, preparation is the key to success. You must learn to apply all that you know so that you can attract all that you want. Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
- Successful people are always looking for opportunities to grow. They see opportunity where others only see defeat. They are flexible and open-minded about unexpected opportunities
. If you continuously compete with others, you become bitter, but if you continuously compete with yourself, you become better. The only person you should strive to be better than is the person you were yesterday. If you want to reach your potential and become the person you were created to be, you must go out of your way to seize growth opportunities as if your future depended on it. The key to success is to become skillful enough to be able to do rewarding things. Everyone has areas of their life they want to improve. Figure out what area of your life you need to work on. Are you ready for real growth in your life? Then you have to be willing to step into your pain, not run away from it. Be the first to change, be the first to take the challenge, be the first one to overcome the difficulties. Small opportunities are often the beginning of great achievements. The secret of success is to be ready when your opportunity comes. If you wait for perfect conditions to seize an opportunity, you’ll be waiting till the day you die. With each new day comes new opportunities. Therefore, rise up and start fresh. See the bright opportunity in each day. Sometimes opportunity doesn’t come to you. You must to go to it. Don’t wait for opportunity. Create it. Go out of your way to seize growth opportunities as your future depends on it. To reach your potential you must grow. And to grow, you must be highly intentional about it.
The world is full of opportunity. This world, today is full of challenges and opportunities. Two thousand years ago, full of challenges and opportunities. And I’m sure 2,000 years later, full of challenges and opportunities. Somebody looks at this challenge as an opportunity. But I think opportunity always lies in the challenges. Always lies in the complaints. If you can solve the challenge, you will be successful. The bigger the challenge you solve, the bigger the opportunity you have. (Jack Ma)
- Successful people do not live beyond their means. The man without money is at the mercy of the man who has it! And this goes, regardless of the amount of ability he may possess, the training he has had or the native genius with which he was gifted by nature. You cannot enjoy outstanding success in life without power, and you can never enjoy power without sufficient personality to influence other people to cooperate with you in a spirit of harmony. You will also find that the one who does not advance shows clearly, by the look on his face, by the posture of his body, by the lack of briskness in his step, by the uncertainty with which he speaks, that he lacks Self-confidence. No one is going to pay much attention to the person who has no confidence in himself. He does not attract others because his mind is a negative force that repels rather than attracts. (Napoleon Hill)
- Successful people know when to give up and move on. One of the hardest decisions you’ll ever face in life is choosing whether to walk away or try harder. The hardest thing in life to learn is which bridge to cross and which bridge to burn. Nothing holds you back more than your own insecurities. You don’t have to have it all figured out to move forward. Don’t let the learning from your own experiences take too long. If you have been doing it wrong for the last ten years, I would suggest that’s long enough! It may hurt to let go but sometimes it hurts more to hang on. Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together. It’s not how far you fall, it’s how high you bounce that counts. Focus on your success rather than dwelling on your failures. Growth is painful, change is painful, but nothing is as painful as being stuck where you don’t belong. You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one. If you don’t change the direction where you are going, then you are likely to end up where you’re heading. Old ways won’t open new doors. When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch you. Sometimes you have to let go of who you were to become who you want to be. Sometimes you have to walk away from what you want to find what you deserve. You can’t change the direction of the wind, but you can adjust the sails. Starting today, you need to forget what’s gone, appreciate what still remains, and look forward to what’s coming next. Don’t be afraid to change. You may lose something good but you may gain something better. Change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and beautiful at the end. Every day is an opportunity to reset. Every new day brings the choice to begin again. Don’t be afraid to start over. It’s a brand new opportunity to rebuild what you truly want. Be loyal to your future, not your past. If you fell down yesterday, stand up today. Starting today, you need to forget what’s gone, appreciate what still remains, and look forward to what’s coming next.
Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose. (Lyndon B. Johnson)
- Successful people learn from failures. Why are successful people so much more effective at learning from their mistakes? Successful people are the ones who learn from their mistakes and have a healthy regard for what they don’t know and seek to fill in the missing gaps. They understand that there is no such thing as failure, only mistakes from which we can learn. They know that failure is a possibility when it comes to trying anything new. Seeing failure for what it is, a learning opportunity and nothing more, helps positive people achieve massive success as they learn and grow. They do not ignore the mistake by brushing it aside for the sake of their self-confidence. They investigate the error, seeking to learn from the mistake. They wanted to understand their mistakes, to learn from their errors, to figure out how to do better. They are very quick to learn and correct their mistakes so that they will never repeat the same mistake again. Mistakes are proof that you’re trying. Don’t let mistakes and disappointments of the past control and direct your future. Past mistakes should teach you to create a wonderful future; not cause you to be afraid of it. Successful people learn quite as much from their failures as from their successes. When it is obvious that their goals cannot be reached, they don’t adjust their goals, they adjust their action steps. The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem. Your attitude makes all the difference – whether you are a success or a failure, a winner or a loser, your attitude matters a lot. Because nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal, nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude. You have to be your strongest when you’re feeling your weakest. The majority of failures in life are simply the victims of their mental defeats. To be successful, you should not be afraid of failure, because it’s how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success. Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure. It’s built on frustration. Sometimes it’s built on catastrophe. Some of the best lessons we ever learn are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom and success of the future. Failure is not the opposite of success. It is part of success. Without failure there is no achievement. Failure is your best teacher because it teaches you what you would do differently in the future so not to fail again. Therefore, make failure your teacher, not your undertaker. Failures are simply stepping stones guiding you to success. Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches you something. Failure is success if you learn from it. It’s failure that gives you the proper perspective on success. Failure brings clarity. And you should change your path if it is not the right one. The longer you stay on it, the longer it will take to find your true destiny. Winners are not those who never fail, but those who never quit. Success does not consist in never making failures, but in never making the same failure a second time. It is a mistake to suppose that successful people succeed through success; they much oftener succeed through failures. Successful people fail just as often as the unsuccessful; the only difference is that successful people learn from their mistakes, get back on their feet, and resolutely march towards their goals. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done. Don’t repeat the same mistake twice; make sure to not only learn from your mistakes but implement strategies to ensure they don’t happen again. The successful man will profit from his failures and try again in a different way till he succeed. Successful people makes the difficulty to be overcome their first interest; success only comes later. Take time to gather up the past so that you will be able to draw from your experiences and invest them in the future. Be prepared for the letdowns that happen every so often. If plan A didn’t work, the alphabet has 25 more letters! Know that this lost opportunity just sets you up to take advantage of the next one. Learn from the negative as well as the positive, from the failures as well as the successes. Don’t worry about failures. Worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. The most amazing things in life tend to happen right at the moment you’re about to give up hope. Sometimes painful things can teach us lessons that we didn’t think we needed to know. Your deepest pain is your greatest gift if you learn how to use it. God has a purpose for your pain, a reason for your struggle, and a reward for your faithfulness. If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost. Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success. If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate. You may struggle, but do not quit. You didn’t come this far to only come this far. Keep going, the best is yet to come. You may not know what is going to happen when you try, but if you do not try, nothing will happen. You have not failed until you quit trying. If you never try, you’ll never know. If you give up, it means you never wanted it. The more you do, the more you fail. The more you fail, the more you learn. Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way. (Dale Carnegie)
We all have dreams because we were born for a purpose and blessed with the power to achieve it. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort. If you can’t stop thinking about it, don’t stop working for it. The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether you win or lose, you have applied the best of yourself to the task at hand. Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. The difference between a successful person and a loser is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will to succeed. The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential — these are the keys that will unlock the door to success. Success is a continuous journey. You can have more successes than failures because you can become more successful — and unless you change how you are, you will always have what you’ve got. If you have no one go to encourage you, instead of using that as an excuse for failure, encourage yourself and use that as a reason why you must succeed. You have to get up every morning and tell yourself “I can do this!” Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. The past cannot be changed, forgotten, edited, or erased. It can only be accepted. We all make mistakes and we all mess up sometimes. Don’t let that get you down. Keep pushing forward to be where you want to be. Dig deep within yourself and find what it is that will drive you when you think you have nothing left. Your past has no power over you. Never let your past determine your future. Don’t be upset by the results you didn’t get with the work you didn’t do. Don’t be afraid of failing, be afraid of remaining the same. It’s never too late to be what you might have been. It’s time to reignite those goals and dreams you have given up on or pushed down! Don’t be pushed around by your problems. Be led by your dreams. It’s time to start living the life you’ve always imagined. Your life is a result of the choices you make. If you don’t like your life, it’s time to start making better choices. You have made some mistakes, and you may not be where you want to be, but that’s got nothing to do with your future. You must make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change. Your life does not get better by chance. It gets better by change. The fact that you aren’t where you want to be should be enough motivation. How many success stories do you need to hear before you build your own? You’re only one decision away from a totally different life. You can make a wish or you can make it happen. You have no idea what you’re capable of until you try. The only thing worse than starting something and failing is not starting something. Don’t be afraid to fail. Be afraid not to try. You should never let what you cannot do keep you from doing what you can do. If you want it, work for it. It’s that simple.
Recipe for success: Heap up an idea. Take action. Mix it up with passion and belief. Then add a dash of persistence. Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success. Success requires a person to be constantly learning, changing, adapting, innovating, and keeping up with the times. To be successful, read this success quotes daily, and put them into practice, because practice makes perfect. You get good at what you practice.
Sow a thought, and you reap an act;
Sow an act, and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit, and you reap a character;
Sow a character, and you reap a destiny. (Charles Reade)
I never did anything by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work. (Thomas A. Edison)
If you wish success in life, make perseverance your bosom friend, experience your wise counselor, caution your elder brother and hope your guardian genius. (Joseph Addison, an English essayist, poet, playwright and politician)