Successful people are confident in the way they perceive success. However, success in whatever field you specialise in comes down to a variety of factors. Firstly, success is subjective and this means that its definition varies from person to person.
The journey towards personal success begins by defining what it means to you. By slightly altering Will Durant’s famous saying ‘We are what we repeatedly do. SUCCESS, then, is not an act, but a habit.’, we gain insight into a method perfectly suited to achieving the goals we set out for ourselves.
By taking this method into consideration we shine a light on 7 things or more appropriately put; 7 habits successful people have in common.
They know what they want
The fact remains: There are just too many wonderful things in this world for us to do all of them. Successful people get into the habit of narrowing down the core aspects of their life that bring them happiness and only commit to these few things.
Granted these things will change as life changes, but the first question all successful people begin with is ‘What legacy do I want to leave behind?’. Once they know the answer to this question they commit to setting extraordinary and reachable goals that are aligned with their strengths.
Reaction to change
Given the unpredictability of life, the answer to the question, ’What legacy do I want to leave behind?’ is likely to change depending on what circumstances come your way. A positive reaction to change is something all successful people have in common and this is due to a high degree of openness to new experience.
When circumstances change, successful people habituate themselves with realigning their goals and ambitions in accordance with how change has realigned their previous targets. Furthermore, not only are they open to this realignment, but tend to embrace it with excitement.
They tend to understand that under certain circumstances, success isn’t always about what you do, but rather how you adapt. They realise that their willingness to succeed is directly proportional to their willingness to adjust their belief structure to what will make room for success.
Students of life
Successful people carry with them a characteristic typically attributed to young children discovering things for the first time: They are pioneers of their own experience until the day they die.
They remain students of all life has to offer, aren’t afraid to explore new avenues of learning and accept failure positively with a strong willingness to adapt.
How they perceive fear
A quality that extreme sportsman and businessmen share is how they perceive fear. Where everyday people commonly allow fear to control them, successful people control their reaction to fear.
They understand that fear is an adaptive mechanism where one’s reaction to it should be proportionate to the perception of that fear. Furthermore, they adjust their actions according to how they perceive potential threats. When facing fear, all successful people consciously increase their perception of their ability to overcome the obstacle at hand.
World-class puzzle builders
Successful people have a remarkable ability of focusing on the bigger picture. While many tend to perceive every day as an isolated incident, successful people tend to perceive each day, action, and outcome as a piece of the bigger puzzle of life.
They perceive success as a matter of putting little pieces together to produce a cohesive and beautiful final product. They are professionals at identifying where and why a piece goes where. This skill comes from maintaining a progressive mindset, that when the pieces don’t fit i.e. circumstances change, they approach the problem by contemplating many possible solutions.
Positive internal locus of control
Locus of control can be defined as the degree to which individuals’ attribute outcomes in their life to internal or external factors.
Successful people all have a positive internal locus of control. This means that they do not allow the external world to determine their internal world, but rather understand that their thoughts control their feelings and actions.
This essentially results in a high degree of accountability and credibility. Successful people won’t rely on others to get the task done and will always go beyond the point of call. When failure is apparent their willingness to admit to it and learn from it is evident. They realise that change and responsibility come down to their ability to control external factors by reflecting inward.
Their understanding of happiness
Lastly, one of the key characteristics all successful people share is their understanding of happiness. Many people have a backward understanding of happiness, believing that success is the key to happiness.
However, success is not the key to happiness. Successful people understand that if one is passionate about the path they have chosen and they love what they are doing then they have already become successful.
