These 10 qualities will set you apart if you can use them. 10 QUALITIES OF HIGH-FLYERS THAT WOULD HELP YOU FLY-HIGH 1. DEDICATION TO A VISION “Every great success starts with inspiration, but not every inspiration leads to success. The most common thing I found in every SUPER-ACHIEVER was that their devotion to the day-to-day struggle is full dedication because something inspired them. This is the daily grind or flagging energy that super-achievers endure to realize their goals. 2. INTELLIGENT PERSISTENCE One thing successful people know: Dedication and blind persistence are two very different things. “You can work hard but not smart,” says MY MENTOR. “When something’s not working, you’ve got to tweak it. Some people just keep banging their heads against the wall.” Instead of doggedly using the same ineffective tactics, super-achievers pivot and try to tackle the problem from a different angle. 3. FOSTERING A COMMUNITY Star performers know they can’t achieve success on their own. Instead, they must galvanize a group of people around their idea or goal. Teamwork, or having an ecosystem of supporters, turns out to be essential. It doesn’t just include partners and co-workers. It might also mean employees, customers, investors, mentors, fans and social media followers. The authors quote business guru Guy Kawasaki: “First you have to create something worthy of an ecosystem. Then pick your evangelists.” 4. LISTENING AND REMAINING OPEN “You don’t normally think of hard-charging, action-oriented leaders as being good listeners,” says MY MENTOR. “These people’s ability to practice the art of listening helped them learn what they needed to know about the world around them. 5. GOOD STORYTELLING Stories have the ability to transport people to your world, where they’re more likely to invest in you and your brand. 6. TESTING IDEAS IN THE MARKET “Everybody has a bias to think their own idea is brilliant,” says Gosfield. “[Achievers] roll it out in an environment that’s as close as possible to the market.” Bill Gross, serial entrepreneur and founder of Idealab, always tests before he invests. When he had an idea for an online car dealer, CarsDirect, no one was sure if it would work. He decided to put up a test site to see what would happen. Before he had any inventory, he’d sold four cars and had to shut down the site. On the upside, Gross then knew for a fact there was a market for the service. 7. MANAGING EMOTIONS “We found that managing emotions is a key element to success,” MY MENTOR WOULD TELL ME “It’s so easy to be derailed by them, but these people are able to channel anger and frustration into their work.” This was an important lesson for Jessica Watson, the Australian sailor who circumnavigated the world alone at only 16 years old. While at sea, when loneliness or negativity set in, she would acknowledge her emotions and remind herself that she could get past them. “You can’t change conditions—just the way you deal with them,” she said. 8. CONSTANTLY EVOLVING Successful people never stop learning and adapting. Tennis champion Martina Navratilova realized this when her game suddenly started sliding. She transformed her training routine and diet, and soon was back on track to become an all-star athlete. 9. PRACTISING PATIENCE Inaction, or stillness, can sometimes be just as useful as action. The importance of patience was a primary theme among the super-achievers, whether it’s strategically waiting for the best time to make a move or continuing to pursue a larger vision despite a lack of immediate rewards. Jill Tarter, a director of the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), has been searching for life on other planets for the last 50 years without any guarantee of success. 10. PURSUING HAPPINESS Success fuels happiness, and happiness in turn fuels greater success. Jeopardy champ Jennings, said that once he became a contestant on a game show, it filled his entire life with passion. That happiness helped him win, and winning ended up giving him the confidence he needed to pursue a career he loved: writing. Seeking happiness in your life and work turns out to be a win-win
Posted on: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 21:15:15 +0000
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