Everyone wants to be successful in life; it would be pretty safe to say that no one actively plans to fail in any venture they set out on, whether it’s in business or just driving to the shopping centre safely.
Despite all the best intentions, not everyone is successful and the reasons why can be due to a plethora of different factors. There is a trend of actions and mindsets however behind those people that seem to experience more success than others and more regularly.
Here’s what they do..
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1. They Fail. A lot.
There’s definitely something in the old adage “fail your way to success” and successful people truly personify it. Successful people fail and sometimes they fail a lot. The difference between a successful person and an unsuccessful person however is how they view that failure.
Instead of viewing a failure as a failure, a successful person sees it as a lesson learned and turns it into a positive for what they need to do or not do in their next venture. They fully understand that every failure can create a future success.
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2. They are ALWAYS Looking for New Opportunities.
Successful people are always thinking “what else?” Once they establish a single success, they are not content to just ride that out. They are always reading, researching, networking or just hunting for a new opportunity. They recognise that success in one venture can be fleeting and so are always seeking to consolidate.
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3. They Create their own Luck.
Luck is a funny concept – it implies an outcome that is completely random when success is often anything but. When someone says “oh that person is so lucky” they don’t necessarily realise how much work has gone into the background of their venture. Often luck equates to extreme positivity, hard work and not giving up when others might have.
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4. They Don’t Complain.
Why? Because complaining and fostering negativity in the mind of a successful person’s mind is a complete waste of time and energy. It’s better to look for the positives in a situation and work with those.
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5. They Internalise Blame.
To a successful person, blaming someone else is counterintuitive. Taking responsibility for your action, inaction or failure to prevent a negative action of someone else allows a successful person to learn and change their actions next time. For successful people, even a situation where they can find no discernible blame on their part is an opportunity – maybe it was something a staff member did that they could have trained them better for? No matter the situation, they find a way to learn from it.
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6. They are Friends with Successful People.
It’s no secret that positivity fosters positivity and in the same way, surrounding yourself with successful people tends to foster success. Successful people are extremely good at surrounding themselves with people that add to their lives and don’t subtract.
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7. They Understand what they DON’T want from life.
They also understand what they DO want from life, but often understanding the things that you don’t want creates an equally clear path to follow and a drive to ensure success. Many success stories going around the internet start from “this happened to me in the past – I will not let that happen again in my future”. These stories are a prime example of creating success from negativity and recognising what you don’t want from life.
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8. They Plan.
Successful people plan and write it down. Numerous universities have done studies on the effectiveness of writing a plan towards success. Successful people write plans, measured in increments (1 year, 5 years, 10 years etc) and follow them, allowing for adjustments to be made along the way.
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9. They Don’t freak out when a Problem Arises.
They look at it calmly and as objectively as possible, devise a solution and move on. Problems never become dramas.
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10. They Understand Success comes in MANY Forms.
It’s one thing to be financially successful, but a truly successful person’s life contains balance. They recognise to only think about money is shallow and look to be successful in all facets of their life.
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11. They Know Their Self Worth.
They don’t rely on or need compliments to keep their positivity levels up. Their confidence comes from within and completely believing that they can succeed. They understand what their time is worth and are happy to help other people as it increases their own drive.
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12. They Finish what they Start.
It’s easy to walk away from something if it’s not going well, but it’s not a trait of successful people. Even if it ends in failure, they finish what they start – be it the smallest task or long-term plan.