While on the journey to your success, here are some common traits and mentalities found across those who have made it and can be declared successful:
Knowing when and how to please others. If you try to please everyone all the time, you will become completely overwhelmed and unable to get accomplish anything. The most successful people know that saying “no” all the time is not the answer, though. Instead, they look for ways to get to “yes” that benefit all parties and help prioritize their work.
Keep your options open. While successful people are decisive and move steadfastly toward their goals, most of them avoid choices which limit future options. None of us can afford to create boundaries that are so stiff we can’t adapt when necessary.
Listen before speaking your mind. Successful people are bold, but they know railroading every conversation is a quick way to end cooperation. . Show them you understand their point of view with your responses, and they will be much more likely to hear out your opinion, too.
Target small successes. Failure is a necessary part of ultimate success for most people, but bombing at regular intervals can kill your motivation and encourage you to abandon your dreams. Successful people set themselves up for victory by establishing many ambitious short-term goals on their path to whatever they see as their big prize. By consistently challenging themselves and achieving tougher and tougher objectives, they build confidence and move closer to their ideals.
Exercise caution when necessary. Fear of failure or embarrassment can paralyze even the most ambitious among us, but a healthy respect for the unknown and potential danger can save us from disaster. Successful people are not afraid of taking risks, but only after they have weighed possible pitfalls.
Have multiple projects going. Multitasking has developed a bad reputation over the last few years, and for good reason since it’s really hard to do two things well at the exact same time. There is plenty of other times.
Stay stressed – humor me. Stress is the “silent killer” that can wreak havoc on your health, but successful people have learned how to use it to their advantage. They realize that hardly anything worthwhile ever gets done at a leisurely pace, and the pressure to perform is a powerful motivator. The most accomplished among us thrive on deadlines and out doing their previous best efforts, over and over again. By applying stress from the inside out and latching onto these other “negative” habits, they leave 99% of us in their dust.
“You don’t need to be better than anyone else, you just need to be better than you used to be.” – Wayne Dyer