July 12, 2006
Copyright © 2006 by Bill Dueease
Josh Hyatt, a featured writer for “Money Magazine,” contacted
me to ask if TCC Member Coaches had discovered any common traits of
successful entrepreneurs and business owners. Since all of our coaching
activity is kept very confidential, I could not answer Josh’s question.
I am not privy to this information about our clients, nor would I reveal
it if I was.
However, his question led to a fun and frank two-hour discussion about
the common personal traits of successful people. I believe there are
some very common and clearly defined personal characteristics of successful
people, including successful business owners and entrepreneurs. In fact,
I believe the successful people I know were successful BECAUSE they
had all of these personal traits.
I have met or known hundreds of very successful people during my life.
I counted over 100 self-made millionaires, mostly business owners and
entrepreneurs. Yet, I have also known many other very successful people
who were not millionaires, but they had created other forms of success
for themselves. I feel that the amount of money people make or acquire
is not a valid measurement of their success. There are other more important
criteria to be used to measure success than money. My recollection of
these successful people revealed the following common traits that I
wish to share in random order.
.
This is a very clear and powerful trait. They know their true passions,
their beliefs and values, their talents, their self-imposed obstacles
(what they do not like to do) and certainly their priorities. They have
a clear picture of what makes them tick. They continuously strive to
uncover as much about themselves as they can. They seek the truth about
themselves and act accordingly. Because they are so clear about their
true inner motivations and their priorities, they rarely have conflicts
with themselves. They do not get in their own way. They are able to
focus their full energies on their chosen goals, without expending wasted
time and energy on internal conflicts.
They not only know their individual physical, mental, and emotional
capabilities; they are also extremely honest with themselves. They recognize
and accept themselves for who they are. Yet, they also strive to improve
their abilities in the areas that mean the most to them. They are willing
to challenge and push themselves to improve, because they truly enjoy
their personal progress. Successful people place great importance on
always getting better in their chosen areas. They are inspired to constantly
improve themselves.
They know where they are going and why, in their personal lives, their
family lives, and their work lives. They focus their energies, their
constant improvements, their time, and emotions on fulfilling their
goals. One of the remarkable side affects of these successful people
is that they frequently achieve their visions. Yet, they generally stumble
and even degenerate, when they reach their perceived personal goals.
They can fall out of their successful life because they achieved their
vision of success. They reached the top of their own personal mountains,
and they sometimes slide down from there. This might appear to be a
contradiction, but it often explains why so many people who achieve
success allow themselves to fall on hard times.
Look at the vast number of entertainers, musicians, and athletes who
work for years to achieve a vision of success for themselves, and when
they reach their success goals, based upon their own terms, they appear
to go into some kind of personal funk. They only return to the success
path of life when they generate new visions and new personal goals that
capture their focus and energies to achieve them. These people need
to find new mountains to climb to return to their successful life ways.
It is the journey, it is the climb, and it is the game of striving for
their goals that generates their life successes, not necessarily the
goals.
.
Because successful people clearly know what their personal definition
of success is, they rarely follow the herd, unless it suits their own
personal agenda. They rarely try to keep up with others. Instead, they
are more likely to lead the herd or the other climbers to the top of
the mountain, and be the ones others try to keep up with.
Successful people truly enjoy their work and their life. They almost
always produce excellent results. Watching successful people display
their enjoyment from doing what they love has always been fun for me.
Watching Pete Sampras (on TV) win six Wimbledon tennis titles was quite
rewarding. Watching Larry Bird win his many NBA championships (especially
his first in person) allowed me to observe an artist enjoy himself to
the hilt. It seemed that Bird was having so much fun playing that he
was disappointed that the final game was over. Virtually all successful
people truly enjoy the games of life and work they choose to play, and
they play them because they enjoy them so much. The many truly successful
millionaires that I know enjoyed the special games of work they chose
to play. The exceptional results they produced while doing what they
loved to do attracted millions of dollars as a consequence. Larry Bird
loved to practice shooting baskets and truly loved making the winning
shots during games. He attracted millions of dollars because he was
so good at scoring points and because he delighted in scoring the final
winning points to finish a game.
They feel a special desire to extract as much out of their short time
on earth as they can. They frequently appear to be in a hurry to do
as much as they can. Often times participating in many different projects
with different goals at the same time. They appear to always be busy.
Obstacles and setbacks thrown out by life rarely stop them. They just
find new paths towards their goals. Yet, as I mentioned earlier they
sometimes lose interest in life, upon achieving their life’s goals.
Most successful people learn to set many different types of goals to
keep them interested and focused in several things at once that are
very important to them, so when they achieve one of their goals, or
reach the top of one mountain, they are still actively involved at achieving
other goals, or climbing other mountains, and they do not lose a step
in life.
They are blatantly honest with themselves first and their honesty and
integrity is exceptional. They set their own integrity standards and
stick to them publicly and privately, through good times and bad times.
Frequently they bother others because they are so honest and their standards
are so high. Successful people are not corrupt nor do they lower their
integrity when no one is looking. They live with very strong conviction
and consistency. But there are people whom society has labeled as successful
because of the wealth they gained and the notoriety they purchased with
their wealth. Yet, these people frequently got rich through corruption
and they are consequently not truly successful people. Acquiring money
without integrity is not, in my opinion, a sign of success.
They have strong sense of a higher power and they honor and respect
their God. They believe that there is truly an all-powerful God. But
they rarely invoke the strict rules and order of a religion on themselves
or others. They connect with God in their own way. They choose a code
of worship and conduct to suit their own personal relationship with
God. They recognize the blessings they receive from God and they feel
a genuine thankfulness for what they receive.
I have found that the truly successful people I have personally known
or have studied have possessed and practiced these traits. They may
focus attention on some traits more than others, but if you look closely
they practice them all. They derive their successes, on their terms,
because they have and practice these traits.
We welcome your opinions and comments.
Bill Dueease
Editor
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