Seven Traits of Successful People

8/2/2019 Seven Traits of Successful People

1/4

Seven Traits of Successful People

Sunday, 6th April 2008 (by J.D. Roth)

43Comments

79Share

This is a guest post from Pinyo, author ofMoolanomy, a personal finance blog about money,wealth, investing, and more.

Ever wonder why some people can never do wrong? I have been observing successful people

around me, and experimenting with different ideas. Here are the seven traits that Ive found work

well for me in many situations. I think they will make you richer and more successful in manyways.

Successful people know what they want

Call it a dream. Call it a vision. Call it whatever. Is there something that you want? This was a hard

question for me to answer when I was younger, and I think thats perfectly normal. Having a clear

idea about what you want to do, to be, orto accomplish comes at a different time for each of us.

The nice thing about goal setting is thatyou dont have to get it right the first time it is an

evolution of ideas, not an answer. You can start with one simple goal, and establish more as

desired. You can have short-term and long-term goals, easy and hard goals, or any combinationthereof. If you find that a goal is too easy, make it more challenging. If you find that you fall short,

try harder.

The important thing is to develop the habit of setting goals as soon as possible. Learn about

SMART goals, goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-specific. Heresan example of a SMART goal I set for myself.

Successful people dont just think, they act

So you have set some goals for yourself great! But if all you do is think about them, you will

never accomplish anything. Ive always found it hard to take that first step, especially when itscompletely out of my comfort zone. I am not sure who said this, but its a quote that I like:

Thinkers think and doers do. But until the thinkers do and the doers think, progress will be just

another word in the already overburdened vocabulary of the talkers who talk.
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/04/06/seven-traits-of-successful-people/http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/blogger/j-d-roth/http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/04/06/seven-traits-of-successful-people/#commentshttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/04/06/seven-traits-of-successful-people/#commentshttp://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.getrichslowly.org%252Fblog%252F2008%252F04%252F06%252Fseven-traits-of-successful-people%252F&src=sphttp://www.moolanomy.com/http://www.moolanomy.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_(project_management)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_(project_management)http://www.moolanomy.com/50/1-million-by-2017-whats-your-goal/http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/blogger/j-d-roth/http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/04/06/seven-traits-of-successful-people/#commentshttp://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/04/06/seven-traits-of-successful-people/#commentshttp://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.getrichslowly.org%252Fblog%252F2008%252F04%252F06%252Fseven-traits-of-successful-people%252F&src=sphttp://www.moolanomy.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_(project_management)http://www.moolanomy.com/50/1-million-by-2017-whats-your-goal/http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/04/06/seven-traits-of-successful-people/


2/4

The key is to have the dare to dream and the courage to act.

Successful people have insatiable hunger for knowledge

Youve heard that you should look before you leap. This means that you should think carefullyabout the possible results or consequences before acting. Having the courage to act doesnt mean

you should do so blindly without knowing how, or without considering the consequences.

Knowledge has long been recognzied as a key component to success:

Knowledge is, indeed, that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man

above another. Joseph Addison in the Guardian, no. 111, Letter of Alexander toAristotle

Knowledge is power. William Alexander, Earl of StirlinginRecreation with the

Muses

Knowledge and human power are synonymous, since the ignorance of the cause frustrates

the effect. Francis Bacon inAphorism III

If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it. Rev.Jesse Jackson

My motto is never cease to learn, because if I did, I would cease to grow.

Successful people are curious and are not afraid to experiment

This trait goes hand-in-hand with knowledge. People like to say that curiosity killed the cat, but I

dont like that proverb much. I think its the opposite: lack of curiosity breeds mediocrity. Ivewritten before:

My key beliefs about building wealth are (1) never stop experimenting, and (2) always look for

ways to build, diversify, and shift my income streams toward passive sources.

If you find a formula that works and you stop right there, youll never know whether theressomething that works better. Lets talk about a theoretical guy named Joe, for example. To Joe,

investing means putting his money in his savings account. One day he discovers a certificate of

deposit that pays four times as much. If he stops there, he may never learn thatlong-term investingin the stock market could give him more than ten times as much.

Everywhere you look, the companies that are constantly changing and improving are the ones that

succeed. For example, 3M would never be where it is today if it didnt encourage their employees

to spend a portion of their times on pet projects. One of these projects resulted in thePost-It Notes.

Now, where would 3M be without Post-It? Here is another cool example square watermelons who would have thought?

You and I are no different. Never stop being curious.

Successful people build their networks

I am an introvert by nature (Myers-Briggs type ISTJ). Reaching out to other people and building a
http://www.moolanomy.com/348/building-diversifying-and-shifting-your-income-streams/http://www.moolanomy.com/115/introduction-to-cagr/http://www.moolanomy.com/115/introduction-to-cagr/http://www.moolanomy.com/115/introduction-to-cagr/http://www.3m.com/us/office/postit/http://www.3m.com/us/office/postit/http://www.3m.com/us/office/postit/http://www.financialhack.com/2007/12/04/10145_lessons-of-the-square-watermelon.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introversionhttp://www.personalitypage.com/ISTJ.htmlhttp://www.moolanomy.com/348/building-diversifying-and-shifting-your-income-streams/http://www.moolanomy.com/115/introduction-to-cagr/http://www.moolanomy.com/115/introduction-to-cagr/http://www.3m.com/us/office/postit/http://www.financialhack.com/2007/12/04/10145_lessons-of-the-square-watermelon.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introversionhttp://www.personalitypage.com/ISTJ.html


3/4

network is very hard for me. When I was younger I thought I could get ahead on the merit of my

good performance and work ethic alone I was wrong. Networking is essential.

Networking doesnt mean sucking up to your boss, or choosing to hang out with important people.True networking is about building relationships at all levels inside and outside of your work

environment e.g., friends, classmates, teachers, colleagues, subordinates, superiors, vendors,customers, teammates, virtual friends, clubs, etc.

Here are some fruits of networking from my own experience:

My employees wife works for Liberty Mutual and helped me save money on my car andhome insurance.

My former manager (and now a good friend) spotted a great job opportunity for me,

resulting in a promotion and a significant salary increase

The M-networkand other personal finance blogger friends helped my blog grow through

cross-promotion and referrals, including incredible opportunities like guest blogging on

Get Rich Slowly.

Although socializing in large gatherings is still a hard pill for me to swallow, Ive learned that itsnot the only way to network. Its not the number of people that you know, but who you know, and

the quality of these relationships that matter.

Successful people are passionate about what they do

Do you thinkTiger Woods hates golf? Does Gary Kasparov hate chess? Did Shakespeare hatewriting? Of course, not! They are passionate about what they do, and have a lot of fun doing it.

Thats why theyre so darn good and successful.

Would all the money in the world be worth it if your life was completely miserable? Do you getheartburn on Sunday because you have to go back to work on Monday? If you are in thesepositions, then you are probably not doing your best, and are better off elsewhere. Think about it.

Have you ever heard of a successful person that does not like what he (or she) does? Sure, some

people can make a lot of money doing what they hate, but soon enough they will burn out andcant bear doing it any longer.

My passion is the ability to express my entrepreneurial spirit. Sounds kind of odd for someone who

has worked for over ten years in a big corporation. My previous assignment was drudgery, where

creativity was a foreign language. My spirit was withering, and everything suffered because of it.On the other hand, my current job assignment, and now my blogs, lit a fire under the furnace of my

entrepreneurial creativity. I can feel and see the difference.I feel successful.

Successful people are persistent and patient

I am totally copying this idea fromHappy Feet it goes something like this: To TRIUMPH, youmust TRY first then UMPHyou tried enough and one dayTRIUMPH. Well, close enough.

Basically, success doesnt happen over night.
http://www.moolanomy.com/295/i-just-saved-a-bunch-of-money-on-my-insurance/http://www.moolanomy.com/295/i-just-saved-a-bunch-of-money-on-my-insurance/http://www.moolanomy.com/m-network/http://www.moolanomy.com/m-network/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Woodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparovhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakesperehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366548/http://www.moolanomy.com/295/i-just-saved-a-bunch-of-money-on-my-insurance/http://www.moolanomy.com/295/i-just-saved-a-bunch-of-money-on-my-insurance/http://www.moolanomy.com/m-network/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_Woodhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry_Kasparovhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakesperehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0366548/


4/4

I had an interesting conversation with my mom the other day. We were talking about a successful

political figure in Thailand. My mom said that he had failed so many times before he made it big

in a sense that having past failures is a bad thing. I disagreed and in my opinion:

People who never made it are as they are because they tried, failed, and never try again.

People who are mediocre are as they are because they found something that works andnever try anything else.

People who are successful are as they are because despite their past failures, they kepttrying until they found something that worked really well.

Not too many people succeed without effort, determination, and patience. Personally, I have never

become good at something without trying a few times, and to get really good at something takesyears of practice.

Documents

Seven Traits of Successful People