Choosing Success: Three Traits EVERY Successful Person Demonstrates
As I have studied, watched, and read all of the experts on the subject of personal development and success (and I've read A LOT), I have made an insightful discovery. At the most basic level I have uncovered three big traits every successful person demonstrates.
Three things: successful people are dreamers, deciders, and drivers. That is it, three things; the three D’s of success.
Every successful person not only demonstrates these three traits, they have them completely mastered. It is not a crazy secret or a magical formula. It is just those three things.
DREAM
“Dreaming?” you ask. It sounds fluffy. It might even sound cheesy, but I assure you it’s true. No successful person ever reached where they are without first having a dream. I don’t mean the dreams that come when you are asleep; I mean the kind of dream you see when you think about your life and what you want it to look like. House, success, career, money, family, hobbies—all of it are included in this dream. Successful people start with a dream and work backwards, counting down the tasks that will help them reach that dream.Those dreams better be good and they better be BIG. Do your dreams need to be supersized? Make It Happen!
DECIDE
All successful people have made a decision to be successful. They have made a choice to overcome hardship, economic adversity, and whatever else that might have come up in their lives. They made a decision to be successful. You are not successful until you decide that you are. This next step, what I call “The Decision Factor” in business, is the moment you stop getting in your own way. Some people look at success in business and immediately label it as difficult and this, just as immediately, keeps them from reaching their goals.
That is why one decision is key to your everyday success; you must decide that success is easy to achieve. Does that mean it won’t be work? No, true success probably will be a lot of work. It simply means you will be able to attain success. It means success is not untouchable. Again, as long as you keep yourself in the mindset that you can decide what success means to you, then you can also decide how much or how little you are going to do to achieve your goals. I love that thought and that it is all it takes, a simple decision.
Some of you may be thinking, “Come on, I have decided to be successful and I am not living what I consider to be success!” I’m going to address this, too! In my life I thought, as many do, “I am a successful person and I am going to make a million dollars by the time I turn 30.” Yet here I am, at 35, and I have not quite reached a million dollars, nowhere near in fact. But I'm working on it. I'm not giving up and that makes all the difference.
At one point you probably had a picture in your head of what you thought would happen in your life, much like my thought of making a million. At the time it probably felt like you had already chosen, or thought you decided to be successful. In reality you probably decided something entirely different. I have many clients and friends who say, “Oh, I can’t be successful. Look at me, my parents, my circumstances. We were poor, I am poor.” Or they say, “I could never earn that much money, I live on this side of the tracks.” Ultimately they were simply choosing NOT to be successful.
What statements have you been telling yourself for years that are holding you back and keeping you from achieving your dreams? How can you rephrase those statements and make them positive action statements to help you decide to choose success? This is what I am here to help you with.
In all reality, you are not alone. Everyone can come up with a number of reasons why they can’t, won’t, or shouldn’t have success. That’s easy. Even some of the big names have been there. But the difference is this, take a look at someone you think of as successful. Is it Oprah? Donald Trump? Jack Canfield? Do you think they just woke up one morning and were successful? Or, did they have to make the decision to rise above their circumstances and move forward, using the talents they were given, and make something of their lives? Oprah Winfrey started her young life in the worst possible conditions with her family. She overcame them, both emotionally and economically. She made the decision she was not going to be stuck in her past. Every great successful person has a similar story.
As an imperfect person myself, I am not here to be critical about any decision you have made up to this point. Instead, I am here with you at a starting point and we are just going to move forward starting today.I am here to tell you, every successful person made the decision to overcome whatever situation they were in and decided to dream of something better. You can do the same and be successful.
DRIVE
Finally, I found that all successful people have drive. What I mean by this is that they first had a goal or dream; second, they made a decision to achieve it; and finally, they chose a path and committed to that path until their desired result and success was achieved. They learned to drive through the curves and hills life offers. They learned how to drive through the dark days and nights that await everyone on the road to greatness. They made a decision and then charted their path. They continued to strive and stay on that path until they achieved what they wanted.
This is why drive is so important. Every successful person I have researched has had some low point. Even after they had made the decision and achieved great success, some of them had additional trouble. Bankruptcies, divorce, death of a loved one, and the list goes on. Their drive made it easier for them to overcome each hurdle and continue on. They all overcame an economic adversity, a major accident, or a major disease. I know a lot of successful people who have overcome and beat cancer. They didn’t let those bad experiences determine the outcome. Instead they used every experience, the good and the bad, to help achieve their ultimate success. Now if this sounds oversimplified, it just might be, but think about the struggles you have had in your life. Did you let them hinder your progress? Or did you decide they were just part of your journey and growth? Did you continue on?
Bestselling author, Michelle McCullough is also a sought after business strategist and speaker. She’s the creator of “The Social Media Blueprint For Business” a digital marketing planning tool for entrepreneurs and small businesses. She’s been featured in numerous media outlets including entrepreneur.com and the 40 under 40. She’s also the host of a weekly radio show that hit over a million downloads at the beginning of 2015. As a mother of two young children she knows there’s no time to mess around. It’s time to Make It Happen. (Michelle’s motivational book “Make It Happen – The Success Practices for Peak Performers” will be out in 2015. Sign up for the Make It Happen Toolkit and you’ll be first to hear about it’s release!)