8 Traits of the Worlds most successful Founders

“Each person’s path to success may be unique, but there are many commonalities among the world’s most successful people“.

Successful Topics: Passion, Focus, add Value, New Ideas, Work Hard, Improvement, Comfort Zone, Bounce-Back

For his book, “The 8 Traits Successful People have in Common,” author Richard St.John conducted interviews with more than 500 highly successful people, from the likes of Bill Gates & Richard Branson to Martha Stewart & Ben Cohen, the cofounder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. The Author found they all shared eight traits, which he calls the “8 to be Gr8” because “they’re the foundation for success greatness in any field.”

1. Successful people are Passionate about what they do.

Passion tops the list because “If you love what you’re doing, it will be so much easier to develop the other 7 success traits,” the Author writes. He says there are two types of people: . . .

Strivers & Seekers. Strivers know what they want to do early and can go for it from an early age. The majority of people, however, are Seekers. It takes them awhile to discover what they love – from early to late life.

Question. Author says there’s one easy question you can ask yourself to determine if you’ve found your passion: “Would you do it for free?” If the answer is yes, then you’ve likely found it. “Do what successful people do and follow your heart, not your wallet,”. “In the end, your wallet will be happy you did.”

2. Successful people have a specific Focus.

Focus is key. To be successful, it’s important to specialize in a certain area and grow your expertise. Success means narrowing down and focusing on one thing, not being scattered all over the map. But there’s more to it than just picking a field and focusing on it. You should start out thinking wide and then narrow it down into one specific focus. We have a million things on our minds every day, but we can’t succeed at a million things. It’s hard enough to succeed at just one thing.”

3. Successful people provide Value to others.

It’s important to ask yourself who you serve, because most people only care about how you can fix their problems. Once you’ve determined who you serve (your niche), you need to figure out what unique value you can offer. When you shift your focus off of yourself and onto the people you serve, you set yourself up for financial success: “Do what you love. Serve others what they love. The money will find you”.

4. Successful people consistently come up with New Ideas.

Ideas light the way to success. The key is creativity. The Author likens the level of creativity required for business to the levels required for the art. Deals are their art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. Entrepreneurs like making deals, preferably big deals. That’s how they get my kicks. 8 ways to come up with big ideas:

1. See a problem, because big ideas come from everyday problems that need to solved.
2. Be observant: Eye-Q can be more important than IQ.
3. Listen: Ears are antennas for ideas.
4. Asking questions leads to ideas.
5. Borrow an idea, and build it into a new idea.
6. Make connections: Take one thing and connect it to another.
7. Make mistakes: Mistakes and failures lead to great ideas.
8. Write your ideas down.

Final 4 (not basketball)

5. Successful people Work Hard while having Fun.

Every successful person the Author interviewed works long hours. Some of the people he interviewed take an unconventional approach to the workday.

Work-a-Frolics. Rather than the standard 9 to 5, , they often look at each workday as a 5-9 (5 a.m. to 9 p.m). It’s important to avoid burnout. Successful people aren’t “work-aholics”, they’re “work-a-frolics” because they have fun doing what they’re doing.

80/20 Split is a good guideline. 80% of your work should be enjoyable and the remaining 20% should consist of the serious, not-so-fun stuff.

6. Successful people are constantly “getting better”.

Someone who achieves great success is always improving, whether it’s their career, project, product, or service. Continuous improvement means getting good at something, then getting better, and then aiming to be our best. The old saying goes “Practice makes Perfect”. It’s also important to focus on your strengths rather than your weaknesses. It’s okay to be bad at a lot of things, as long as you’re really good at one thing.

7. Successful people “push” themselves out of their Comfort Zones.

Whatever you’re doing in life just push yourself to the limits. Pushing yourself starts with getting out of your comfort zone. You must push through shyness, doubts, & fear. There are specific ways to help you push yourself toward success:

1. Get a goal, challenge, deadline, competition to push you.
2. Get a tormentor to push you & a mentor to support you.
3. Push yourself with self-discipline.

8. Successful people “bounce back” from Failure.

There’s usually no true overnight success. It usually takes 5-10 years or more. Persistence works hand-in-hand with patience. It typically takes 10 years of working toward your goal to achieve success. It’s important to keep in mind that failure is inevitable — whether it’s making mistakes or facing blatant rejection. How you deal with it can be the deciding factor. Failure can be heartbreaking, and when it happens you have a choice. You can let it be your funeral or school. The right choice, of course, is using failure as a learning experience and building from it. Once you do, it’s all about relentlessly moving forward from then on.

Comments: Do you know any other Traits of Successful people?

from Business Insider.com updated 6/18 by Peter/CXO Wiz4.biz

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