One
of the biggest lessons I’ve ever learned is that success is often
counter-intuitive. Typically, the things you’d expect to make you
successful, don’t.
Instead it’s the things you wouldn’t have thought about, that DO lead to massive breakthroughs and success.
In
fact many successful people will testify that they stumbled on their
success by accident. Put another way, many people stumbled on the thing
that made them successful quite by chance.
The
ability to identify the opportunity that will bring you success is
something to be cherished. Opportunities often come as challenges or
problems.
Success is often measured by the degree of difficulty. The greater the difficulty, the greater the level of success.
This
applies to business, making money, entertainment, artistic talent,
sports, professional career and just about any conceivable field or
profession under the sun.
The common misconception is that success is something you achieve. Actually, success is something you attract.
Attract the right people and you become successful. Attract the wrong people and you become unsuccessful.
For
example, one of the most successful boxers in history is Mike Tyson.
Born and brought up in the tough streets of Brooklyn, New York, Mike
Tyson was constantly involved in street brawls and could not avoid
trouble.
However, it was Tyson’s boxing
prowess that attracted the legendary Cus D’Amato. D’Amato who is
remembered for coaching and mentoring boxing greats like Floyd Patterson
and Jose Torres, and also had stints with Muhammad Ali.
Cus
D’Amato not only guided Tyson to become the most fearsome heavyweight
fighter of all time, but also took Tyson into his own home and offered
him shelter, love, and care.
I do not think
Mike Tyson would have become one of the greatest boxing champions
without Cus D’Amato. Tyson became the first heavyweight boxer to hold
the WBA, WBC and IBF titles simultaneously.
This brings us to one of the most fundamental qualities of success. Success demands sacrifice.
This
means people who are not prepared to sacrifice anything will hardly
succeed. The level of success is usually dependent on the level of
sacrifice.
Are you the kind of people who is willing to sacrifice anything to SUCCEED?
If the answer is YES, then success awaits you. On the other hand if the answer is NO, then you can say goodbye to success…
We
can quickly identify the people who will NOT succeed in life by looking
at the qualities that successful people have. Some of these qualities
are genetic but most of them can be learned.
Although there are many qualities for success, here are 23 most common qualities that successful people have.
People who lack these qualities will definitely not become successful.
1. Passion
The number one quality that drives success is passion. It is something that drives your goal even when you have no money.
2. Purpose
Purpose
is something bigger than just a goal. Purpose is the discovery of the
reason for existence. It is difficult to be successful if you don’t know
your purpose.
3. Persistence
Persistence
is the conquest of shame and the recipe for success. This is the secret
many successful salespeople use to climb up the success ladder.
Most
successful people don’t give up easily. You can know if you have the
potential for success depending on the degree of persistent. That means
if you give up easily then you don’t have persistence.
4. Consistency
Nothing
meaningful can be achieved without a clear strategy and proper
planning. Consistency is the ability to implement a clear plan and
following it systematically and faithfully.
5. Focus
There
are just too many distractions on the road to success. The key to
success is to remain focused. One of the most powerful qualities
successful people have is the ability to say “NO” to all kinds of
distractions, sideshows and shiny objects.
6. Dream
Quite
simply, you will not succeed if you don’t have a dream. Dreams have
nothing to do with those pictures that come to you when you’re asleep.
A dream is precisely what Martin Luther King Jr. meant when he uttered his famous words, “I have A Dream”.
7. Vision
If
you can see your goal, you can have it. Vision is the ability to see
the future, especially where it’s directly concerned with your goal.
Most people will not succeed because they lack vision.
8. Alacrity
Alacrity
is the opposite of procrastination. Non-smart people who take prompt
action will always get ahead of smart people who procrastinate.
The
world is littered with “A” students who work for “C” or “D” students.
Hard work, consistency, persistence and focus, always get better results
than genius.
Success is commonly identified with activity. Laziness will always certainly result in failure.
9. Imagination
“Imagination is more important than knowledge” - Albert Einstein.
Imagination
is the ability to create your own world. We are constantly creating the
kind of world we want by imagining how it will look like. Lack of
imagination equals lack of success.
10. Optimism
Majority of successful people are optimists. Majority of unsuccessful people are pessimists.
11. Determination
The biggest ingredient for success is determination. It is often said that if you want to increase your success rate, then increase your failure rate.
Unsuccessful people never fail because they never try. And even if they try they soon give up.
12. Courage
Life
can be quite challenging and intimidating. FEAR is the leading enemy of
success. And life is full of fearful challenges that block your way to
success. This simply means that success is not for the fainthearted.
Courage is the secret weapon that overcomes FEAR.
13. Criticism
If you cannot take criticism then you don’t really have success qualities. Successful people thrive on criticism.
Criticism is part of life and comes from a simple human ego that says, “I can do better than you” or “I am better than you”.
Spectators are the best critics. They are not the players, yet when it comes to criticism they are at the forefront.
14. Fear of Competition
People will compete with you regardless of environment, circumstance or occasion.
Nobody
likes to be overtaken. Fear of Competition means fear of success. The
leader in any field whether in sports or business is simply creating the
pathway to your success.
15. Fear of Shame
To
succeed in life you must overcome shame. One of the most feared
professions in the world is selling. People are naturally ashamed of
being turned down every time whether they are trying to sell something
or they are trying to date a girl.
What most people don’t know is that if you can overcome SHAME then you have in your hands one of the most powerful keys of life.
16. Listening
Most
people don’t know how to shut up and listen. Listening is a skill you
can learn. Most successful people know that listening is the secret to
learning.
17. Teachability
Unwillingness to learn is the beginning of downfall, self-destruction and uncertainty and recipe for failure.
18. Ability to embrace Change
Change is inevitable. In fact, the saying true, that “if you don’t embrace change, change will change you”.
19. Lack of Faith
People
who lack faith will never succeed. Faith is pinned on hope and hope is
based on vision. What you can’t see you cannot achieve. Faith helps you
see the unseen.
20. Belief in Oneself
If you don’t believe in yourself, how will you see yourself successful?
21. Self-Confidence
Self-confidence is related to self-believe. It appears everything seems to fall into place once we cultivate self-confidence
22. Respect for Others
If
you want to be respected, then respect others regardless of color,
race, religion or gender. Basically, people will help you succeed if you
respect them.
23. Integrity
Integrity
is the respect for oneself, respect for others and respect for the law.
Become a law abiding citizen and people will respect you, love you and
even help you to succeed.
People hate law breakers. Break the law and disrespect yourself and society.