Do you want to be successful? If you think the way the most successful people think and adopt the same habits they have, you can be.
But what makes someone a master achiever? Here are six characteristics:
1. They are ambitious.
They see themselves capable of being the best. They see themselves with the capacity of being really good at what they do.
This was a really big thought for me. It held me back for many years. When I saw people who were doing better than I was, I naturally assumed they were better than I was. And if they were better than I was, then I must be worse than them. So that would mean they were superior and I was inferior.
That’s a big problem in our society—we have feelings of inferiority, and these feelings of inferiority are often translated into feelings of undeservedness. The word “deserve” comes from two Latin words meaning “from service.” You deserve 100 percent of everything you make and enjoy as long as you get it from serving other people. If you serve better and serve more and serve at a higher level and serve more enthusiastically and serve a higher quality, then you’ll have a wonderful income—and you’ll deserve every penny of it.
You just must see yourself capable of being the best.
2. They are courageous.
Successful people work to confront the fears that hold most people back. The two biggest enemies to our success are fear and doubt.
When you do something repeatedly, you develop a habit. Make a habit throughout your life of doing the things that scare you. If you do the thing you fear, the death of fear is certain.
So face your fear. The ability to confront your fear is the mark of the superior person. If you have high ambition and you decide to be at the top, and you can confront your fears and do the things that are holding you back, those two things alone will make you a great success.
3. They are committed.
The top people in every field are completely committed. They believe in themselves; they believe in their companies; they believe in their products and services; they believe in their customers. They have an intense belief.
We know that there is a one-to-one relationship between the depth of your belief and what happens in your reality. And if you absolutely believe in the rightness and the goodness of what you’re doing, you become like a catalyst. You create what is called a transfer, like an electrical transfer of enthusiasm.
People who are not committed to what they do lead very empty lives. Caring is a critical element in life—all men and women who enjoy great lives care about what they do. They have passion about what they do. They love what they do.
4. They are prepared.
Successful people review every detail in advance. They do things that the average person is not willing to do. They make sacrifices the average person is not willing to make. But the difference it makes is extraordinary.
Before you go into a meeting, do your homework. Before you give a speech, research the information and practice your talking points. Dive in deep to review every detail of every situation before you take it on.
Successful people are more concerned about pleasing results than they are about pleasing methods. There is nothing more complimentary to your team, your client, your audience than the feeling that you have thoughtfully prepared.
5. They are continuous learners.
High achievers recognize that if they’re not continually getting better, they’re getting worse. They read, they listen to CDs and they take additional training. The professional never stops learning. So read, listen to CDs and take continuous training.
Never stop learning.
6. They are responsible.
The top people in our society have an attitude of self-employment. That’s essential, because 100 percent of us are self-employed—we are presidents of our own personal services corporation. You work for yourself, and the biggest mistake we can ever make is to think we work for anyone else. The person who signs our paycheck may change, our jobs may change, but we are always the same. We are the one constant.
The fact of the matter is that this is not optional—it is mandatory. You’re the president of your own career, your own life, your own finances, your own body, your own family, your own health. You are totally responsible.
We have to be responsible. No one will ever do it for us. It’s the most liberating and exhilarating thought of all, to think, to realize, that you’re the president of your own life.
Adapted from The Success Mastery Academy by Brian Tracy
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in June 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Photo by anjemaster/Twenty20
