I start a brand new
adventure in my professional life tomorrow with a group of colleagues I trust
and have worked great with before. To #LiveALittle is to constantly grow. I believe that is in all aspects of life; romantically, spiritually, professionally, etc. When you a stop growing then the deadness sets in & life is over. One maybe still breathing and walking around but they are nothing but an empty shell of who they once were. Most of the people I talk to are confused about how to grow professionally. I've heard more stories about "golden handcuffs" (at a job you hate but you make too much money to leave because you're afraid to start over or even give it a shot to find something comparable) now then I have ever.
I read an awesome article tonight from Entrepreneur titled "16 Traits of the World's Highly Successful People". There is absolutely life changing advice from Napoleon Hill. Have a read for yourself:
After spending 12
years analyzing "more than 12,000 men and women," both successful
entrepreneurs and ordinary people, Hill determined 16 elements of exceptional
leaders that anyone can practice:
1. They have a definite aim in life.
Hill likens having
just a vague aim to succeed to being a ship without a rudder. "Bear in
mind that both your definite aim and your plan for attaining it may be modified
form time to time... The important thing for you to do now is to learn the significance
of working always with a definite aim in view, and always with a definite
plan," Hill writes.
2. They are self-confident.
To be capable of
setting ambitious goals, you need to believe you can follow the plans to
achieve them. And when you believe in yourself, others tend to believe in you
as well.
3. They show initiative.
The only way to
rise up the corporate hierarchy or to develop your own business is to to look
for other things to accomplish once you've fulfilled your regular duties.
4. They are imaginative.
A lack of the
driving force of initiative and the creative power of imagination is "the
main reason why 95% of the adult people of the world have no definite aim in
life, which, in turn, is also the reason why this same 95% constitute the
followers in life," Hill says.
5. They are active.
You may have earned
multiple degrees from elite universities and have read history's most important
books, but none of it means anything if you don't turn knowledge into action.
6. They are enthusiastic.
Do what you love,
Hill says, or else you will lack the energy to become truly successful.
7. They practice self-control.
Hill says that he
did not start to become successful until he learned that he was working against
himself whenever he gave into anger or arrogance. "No person ever became a
great leader of others until he first learned to lead himself, through
self-control," he writes.
8. They go beyond what's required of them.
The most successful
people outperform their competition, and when they make it to the top, they
compete with themselves.
9. They are incredibly likable.
When you are
charismatic and foster relationships with others, you build a network of people
who are willing to help you without your asking.
10. They know how to separate truth from bias.
Because their
actions have ramifications for other people, leaders understand that they
cannot take what they hear or read at face value, and learn how to pluck truth
from others' worldviews.
11. They are focused.
Successful people
are able to concentrate their energy and skills toward specific goals without
becoming distracted by irrelevant issues.
12. They are persistent.
Those who are able
to achieve success are not stopped by the inevitable nonstop challenges and
setbacks that are in their path to attaining their goals.
13. They are resilient.
"When you
begin to realize that failure is a necessary part of one's education, you will
no longer look upon it with fear, and lo! the first thing you know, there will
be no more failures!" Hill writes. "No person ever arose from the
knockout blow of defeat without being a stronger and wiser human being in one
respect or another."
14. They are sympathetic.
In "Think
and Grow Rich," Hill writes that it's not a coincidence that history
is filled with tyrants and dictators being overthrown. The most successful
leaders work in harmony with their team, not in dominion over them.
15. They work hard.
Hill says that this
sounds simple enough, but it's important to remember that even if you achieve
your greatest goal, you need to continue pushing yourself or risk losing
everything you worked for.
16. They are empathetic.
Hill's favorite
philosophical maxim is The Golden Rule, which states, "Treat others the
way you would like to be treated." He uses it as the final rung of the
ladder to true success. Hill writes:
The Golden Rule
acts as a barrier to all of man's tendencies toward the destructive use of power
that comes from developing the other qualities outlined in this ladder. It is
the thing that antidotes the harm man could do without knowledge and power; the
thing that guides man to the intelligent, constructive use of those qualities
he develops from the use of the rungs of this ladder.
Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/236554?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+entrepreneur%2Flatest+%28Entrepreneur%29
