Success is a word that many people strive for. We want to be successful at work, at home, in our relationships – but what does it really mean to be successful?
The dictionary defines success as “the favorable or prosperous outcome of efforts” or “a notable achievement; feat”.
So being successful means achieving the things we set out to do. But if there are so many ways to define success, then why do some people get more than others?
Why is one person content while another wants more?
What traits make someone more likely to succeed than others?
And what habits should we be adopting to help us achieve success? Well, to get some answers on these questions we’re looking at the habits and traits of highly successful people.
In this blog post, we’ll be exploring what it means to be successful, and how you can adopt the habits of today’s most influential and inspiring leaders.
28 Habits of Highly Successful People
1. Get Organized and Stay That Way – the key to success is organization and that applies inside as well as outside of the home. If you can’t find something, your day becomes disorganized and stressful.
2. Develop Your Self Image – believing in yourself, being consistent with your values, setting goals for yourself. A person who believes in himself or herself has a greater will to win because he/she have things to work towards
3. Be Positive – “I am never discouraged,” said Thomas Edison at the end of his life; “…I simply discover ten thousand ways it won’t work…” Confidence in oneself creates enthusiasm and helps one deal better with setbacks or failures along the way. Believing you can do something is more than halfway there.
4. Plan Your Work and Work your Plan – if you have never done something before, how do you know what the steps are? Planning is a key to success in any field of endeavor. It helps you stay focused on your goals.
5. Control Your Time – doing more than one thing at a time may seem efficient but it really reduces productivity because we build in lot of wasted time-wasting activities like driving from place to place, waiting for appointments or computer crashes, people interruptions too!
6. Think Win/Win – creating agreements with others based on mutual trust and understanding that creates win-win situations where everyone can succeed; by protecting each other’s interests instead of always trying to get the best deal instead of your partner.
7. Seek First to Understand then be Understood – look for ways to truly understand other people’s perspective and point of view, especially when they are different from yours. Then share information with them in a way that encourages dialogue and mutual understanding so people feel understood because it creates trust which leads to more win-win situations
8. Synergize – realizing that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The success comes not only through individual efforts but by pooling together strengths and talents creating solutions no one person could have generated alone
9. Use “I” message instead of “You” messages – In order to get what you want out of others, such as cooperation or change behavior, you have to ask for it and make your requests clear. Use I messages that clearly state what you want or need, instead of accusing the other person of being wrong or not doing something.
10. Sharpen Your Saw – just like physical exercise, it is important to stay mentally fit by learning new skills and keeping current on trends in your field; continuing education will help build your personal brand as well as keep you valuable in the marketplace
11. Habits are so much more than good habits – They are great successful qualities that help us become productive people who can achieve our personal goals and dreams. By consciously adopting them into our daily lives we can be 10X more effective!
12. Take Responsibility for Your Life – Do not blame your employer, the economy or anybody else for what happens to you. Take responsibility for your life and realize that only you can make yourself successful!
13. Keep a Positive Attitude – We have all heard the saying “Attitude is everything” and it absolutely applies in life, especially when you are working on getting into business school. Yes there will be challenges along the way but having a positive attitude and maintaining your belief that you can get into business school will give you an advantage over those who don’t believe they can do it or who simply don’t believe it is worth the effort.
14. Do Your Homework – The easiest way to find out what schools want and expect from applicants is by reading their websites, brochures, books, and magazines, etc. One thing you will notice about business school applications is that there are many similarities among them in terms of how they are written and what they have in them. Before you start writing your application, take a look at how other successful candidates did it so that you know what to avoid and what works. By doing this research before you start writing will give you an advantage over those who don’t do the homework.
15. Believe in Yourself – You are the one responsible for writing your own application so you must believe in yourself enough to accomplish this task. If you don’t, why should the admissions committee? I know it may seem impossible at first but once you get started it becomes much easier because you will be surprised how much time and thought goes into putting together a decent business school application.
16. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask for Help, Support, or Advice from Others – But don’t ask your friends, family members or co-workers who have no experience in applying to business school – The reason why I say this is because many of them will give you what they think you want to hear and not necessarily the advice that you need to hear. If you are a man, and hiring a female career coach may be helpful for you. I know it may be strange thinking about hiring a career coach for your business school application, but why not? They are experts in what they do and they can help guide you through the process of writing this potentially life changing piece of work.
17. Make Time for What Matters Most in Your Life; Family, Health and Well-Being – I know the business school application is important but it does not have to be your life. In other words, don’t turn doing a good job on the application into an obsession that destroys everything else in your life. Do a great job on the application and enjoy what is left of your life when you are done.
18. Demonstrate How You Will Add Value to the Business School’s Program and Your Career – Successful business school applicants aren’t accepted solely because of their scholastic achievements but rather because they can demonstrate how they will add value to the program. This involves showing that you have had real world experience in business, industry, or management and that your educational background is a good fit for where you want to go in your career. In other words, they need to know how your past experiences and future goals will benefit them and their program.
19. Set Clear Goals and Write Them Down – Most successful applicants start by writing down their goals, dreams and aspirations. They then go on to write a personal statement that focuses on how they plan to achieve these goals, dreams and aspirations. Unlike academic essays, this is your opportunity to tell the admissions committee what you want out of your business school experience. So don’t waste it; get started right away.
20. Know What You Want – Once you have written your goals and dreams down, make sure that they are realistic and achievable. If they are not, then you need to revise them until they become more realistic. For example, if your goal is to own the biggest chocolate company in the world by the time you retire, then you should take a long hard look at your aspirations. Rather than shooting for the stars, set more realistic goals and then write those down too.
21. Write What Really Matters – There are three main parts to a business school application essay so focus on what really matters: an opening statement that is both interesting and captivating, strong supporting statements that back up and elaborate on your opening statement, and an ending that gives the reader a sense of fulfillment or closure.
22. Take Care of Yourself – Make sure that you are eating well, exercising regularly, staying active with work, school or other interests/hobbies. In short do everything in your power to take good care of yourself and be healthy. Why is this important? Because you want to be at the top of your game when you are writing your business school application essay or doing other related work. You also want to feel good about yourself so that you can write a positive, upbeat, interesting and passionate statement. Yes it takes time but seeing the finished result will more than make it worthwhile.
23. Enjoy – I know this may sound strange but you need to have fun while writing your business school application essay and this is something that most people forget about. So try to remember how much fun you had when you were working on the statement, after you finished it and also when reading it over again before submitting it. If you enjoyed the process, it will show in your writing and that is exactly what you want on your business school application essay.
24. Learn Something New Every Day (or at Least Try) – To be successful you must learn something new every day – everything from a new fact or statistic to the meaning of an obscure word. One important step in this process is to read as much relevant information as possible and then go on to absorb it. All of the steps that I discussed earlier are designed to help you do this. You can also increase your chances of achievement by using the Internet to learn about what you are interested in. One example that I like to give is how you can use the Google search engine to find great information on just about anything – whether it is related to a course, job, dream or aspiration.
25. Find Something You Are Passionate About and Pursue It – One of the best ways to learn new things is by helping others find what they are looking for. It’s a win-win situation because you get to help others while at the same time learning from them. This is an especially good strategy if you have a specific goal in mind, such as getting accepted into a top business or graduate school program.
26. Develop a Plan of Attack – You can get from point A to Point B in a number of different ways. So it makes sense to create your own personal plan that will help you achieve your goals and objectives faster and easier than if you just jumped in with both feet and tried something random. This is where the template I provided earlier will come in handy. In your plan you will want to include a goal setting, research on different programs, sample essays for each of the four main topics and finally tips on how to craft a winning essay.
27. Never Quit Trying Until You Succeed – In the end, success will come to those who are persistent about their goals and never let anything or anyone deter them from pursuing what they want. What you learn in this life is that nothing can be given to you – not a high grade, not a good job, not even a compliment – unless you earn it first.
And Finally…
28. Be Patient With Yourself – One of the most important lessons that you will learn in college or business school is that it takes time and effort to improve yourself and become more accomplished. When I was a kid I remember thinking that by the time I reached my early 20’s, life would be perfect. But life isn’t like this – there are no formulas or shortcuts.
