Give Me 10 Minutes, I'll Give You the Truth About 10 Characteristics of Successful People`

We all seek success; it’s this paradise or gem that every human being chases. It’s sort of a purpose of being alive. Fortunately there are many successful people to learn from.

Success means different things to different people. Some view success as the amount of money you’ve in your bank account while others success is how many people you have impacted positively.

Success to another is how happy he or she really is or the relationship one has with his family and loved ones.

Regardless of how you view success there are certain traits or characteristics that make that person successful.

All you have to do to achieve that same result and success is learn from them. You just have to observe them and record your findings.

This is what I found out from my observations; therefore let’s explore these traits one by one.

1. They are Patient

Your parents always told you to be patient, as a child then it seemed that you would never get your way. You were full of impatience as a child and if whatever you wanted didn’t happen now it will never happen.

But that is quite the opposite; a patient person will achieve his goal because he/she knows that success doesn’t come your way without hard work, belief and patience to know that it’s coming.

An impatient person has a goal but he or she wants the result now. He wants the success to come with the snap of his fingers, like magic.

What this leads to is giving up on your goals and dreams leading to laziness.

As Arnold H. Glasow quote explains, “The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg, not by smashing it.”

2. They Read

Books are the most valuable form of information for any successful person. Literature has been part of human evolution with amazing stories and insights written down.

Therefore it means that you have books or information from how to get rich to how to cure your anxiety.

Books are not only the only source of information; there are articles, audios and websites for almost anything.

Research done by Tom Corley a wealth creation expert shows that 85% of successful people read two or more self-improvement or educational books per month.

From Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates they all credit their success to reading books. If the most successful give credit to reading as the reason for their success then why aren’t you reading books.

You can start with this book, Think and Grow Rich, to start your reading habit.

3. They Don’t Take Failure or Rejection Personally

What happens when most people encounter failure or rejection? They give up and lose their self-belief.

This happens because you are taking that failure personally. You should learn from failure not cower to it. Nobody seeks to fail in anything, we all want that project or business to succeed but you cannot be fail proof.

Success is achieved by failing severally; the big question to ask yourself is what will happen once you fail?

4. They Are Surrounded by Like Minded People

You are the average of the five people you hang around with.

This cannot be further from the truth. If you are surrounded by positive people I can bet that you see the positive in life and others.

On the flip side, if you are hanging out with negative people, you are full of negativity and only see faults and how life or others are unfair to you.

If you want to start a successful business, you don’t seek advice from the employee but rather from the entrepreneur.

Success attracts success; therefore if you are hanging out with successful people you’ll be successful too.

As this quote by Donny Osmand states, “Always surround yourself with people who are better than you. If you’re hanging around bad people, they’re going to start bringing you down. But if you surround yourself with good people, they are going to be pulling you up."

5. They Take Action

Taking action is getting up and start working towards it. If you start taking action today you won’t achieve your goals by tomorrow.

It isn’t an overnight success type of situation. By taking action you are working hard.

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” –Dale Carnegie

Most people would rather think about a situation or task before deciding to take action. But unfortunately action is never taken because thinking about it is much safer than risk failing when you take action.

6. They Feel The Fear and do it Anyway

Fear is the biggest challenge that people encounter each day. But unfortunately most don’t face their fear and move on or grow.

Fear stops you from setting up that business, calling your parents to say you love them, taking that job or just travelling.

Growth is achieved on the other side of fear. Do not be paralyzed by fear and do it anyway. It won’t be easy but it will be worth it.

This therefore means that successful people had the fear but did it anyway. I am not telling you to go fight a lion and then your fear will be over once you have lost to the lion.

I want you to take a deep breath and move towards your fear.

7. They Have a Solution Mindset

Mindset is crucial to any successful person. How you perceive and interpret things through the mind is important.

What a solution mindset is all about is you seeing solutions not problems. When faced with problems most people would rather run away or become meek.

When you take this rout it means that you have been defeated and you aren’t trying to stand up again.

For example you have been laid off from your job (problem); you have to find a solution to survive before you get another job. This can be by moving to a cheaper apartment, taking a part time job, or driving for Uber/Lyft to make sure you aren’t starving.

The concept of all this is not to only be seeing a million problems but a million solutions. Every problem has a solution and that’s how success is achieved.

8. They Delay Gratification

Instant gratification involves wanting something now without further delay. This can be anything that will bring you pleasure and fulfillment like food.

Thanks to the internet and technology things are so much easier and faster to access. But this has a dark side to it. Success is not instant unless you place your luck and fortunes on lotteries.

As a Stanford study found out, a group of young children aged 3-5 years were each put into a small room and sat on a chair with a table in front of them.

A treat like a cookie was placed on the table and were told that they can either eat the treat now or wait for 15 minutes and they’ll be rewarded with another treat.

Some kids ate the treat immediately, others resisted their temptation but eventually ate the treat while the rest didn’t cave into the temptation and lasted the full 15 minutes and got their reward.

When the children were adults, the researchers checked on them and found that the kids that delayed gratification (lasted the full 15 minutes) were less likely to suffer from obesity, drug abuse and stress related problems.

Therefore they were productive and happier than the rest.

Delaying gratification means that you have better self-control and that you can delay pleasure now for a better tomorrow or future.

9. They Write Goals Clearly

You have goals but do you write them down or are they always in your mind/thoughts?

If you write them, are they clear enough?

For example which is better, I will start a restaurant business by 31^st December 2020 or I want a restaurant business.

Your goal has to be as clear as possible.

As a study on graduating students found out that students were told to set goals for themselves. Some set goals while others never set a goal. A small group of the graduating students actually wrote down their goals.

Years passed and the same students were followed up and the results showed that those who did set goals but never wrote them earned twice as much as those that never had/set goals.

On those who set goals and wrote those down earned 10 times more than those who set goals but never wrote them down.

The concept of writing goals is important but is clear on what you want to achieve. There is a reason why New Year Resolutions never last and by the first month of the year they are abandoned.

10. They Are Normal People

What do we think of successful people? They are this person that figured it all and that’s why they have the success. We say they are blessed, lucky, and better educated.

But you are missing something here, they are normal human beings. They cry, are afraid, have problems and don’t know how to cook.

“Successful people are not gifted; they just work hard, then succeed on purpose.” –G.K Nelson

If they are normal and you are normal so that means anyone can be successful. They aren’t an alien from Mars or more advanced.

Conclusion

Success is achievable but are you ready to take action, read, be patient and write your goals. If one person can do it then you can definitely do it.

It is just basic concepts that anyone can follow but they will have to face their fear and develop a solution mindset.

Start learning from successful people and realize that they’re normal people. They just delayed gratification, placed themselves around like-minded people and didn’t take failure personal.

Do you know of any other characteristics that I haven’t mentioned. Do tell and share in the comments section below.

-Michael Kamenya