10 Traits of Successful People

By Elma B.

Recently, I attended a speech by a sort of a Internet legend James Altucher, and was inspired to write the 10 traits of successful people. In fact, I asked him what he saw throughout the years were traits of successful people possessed, and he answered the following...

Before I continue, let me clarify that in this article I will define success as influence or affluence. I acknowledge that there are many shapes and forms of successes, and that you can be successful without being influential or having a high net-worth. With that said, this post focuses on the former two.

Me

After much digging, I listened to speeches by some of my favorites like Anthony Robbins, Richard St. John on TED and spoke with James Altucher, I came-up with a sound list of the 10 traits of successful people. The list is a combination of the knowledge I acquired and my own thoughts, which both helped me form my final conclusions. This is something that has been of interest to me for quite some time, so I am excited to share it with you! Without further ado, here are the...

10 Traits of Successful People:

1. Spirituality. Whether you are religious or not is irrelevant. Satisfying your spiritual craving could include something like group meditation or simply sitting quietly in a room alone and letting your mind rest from your oft chaotic inner banter. 

2. Healthy Diet. Being overweight makes you more lethargic, whether in thinking or moving about. A healthy diet is not only apparent on the outside but causes your level of daily energy to spike. Amongst a myriad of its benefits, a healthy diet nurtures your skin, hair and keeps your body weight optimal. Your health is directly influenced by your diet. Every bite counts! 

3. Exercise. I have noticed a spike in my energy since I have started to exercise daily. I feel better and love that I can see muscle definition on my body. I wrote a post about my body image struggles and how hard I work in the gym everyday. So, in case you may think that I wake-up looking like I do, I don't...it is a lot of determination, consistency and hard work. 

4. Passion. Whatever you decide to do with your life, make sure it entails passion. Passion will carry you throughout the day and throughout your life. It will make it that much easier to give your 110% instead of anything less. The reason we (my sister and I) have persisted with Club Fashionista is because we are truly passionate about blogging, including in the realms of tech, fashion, fitness, travel, etc.

5. Persistency. I cannot say enough about persistency...many of us encounter what we perceive as daily defeats, i.e., when expectation does not match reality. However, what we often fail to realize is that no one is spared from daily defeats. Now, what distinguishes the successful people from others is being able to mold yourself to life's challenges and pick another road to get to your final destination. 

6. Focus. Do not spread yourself too thin. Focus on the area where you shine. Where is your added value? For instance, if you are clumsy with people and an introvert, do not focus on sales. Instead, pick a field where you shine. We all have our qualities and weaknesses, think how to optimize your time and be effective at what you do.  

7. Work ethic. Put in your hours, again wisely, at whatever task you have set to accomplish. Work early hours, sometimes 5:30am if an early bird, or very late hours if a night owl. Whatever your schedule, make sure to spend your time effectively in setting out your goals, whether it is achieving those little milestones or finishing the overall race.

8. Creative. Creativity is almost everything. Realize that there are no golden rules; in fact the best rule to abide by is that there are no rules. Be creative to solving your daily problems. I really liked James Altucher's suggestion of writing down 10 ideas per day to work your idea muscle so that you are never out of creative solutions when problems come knocking on your door. 

9. Improve. Be willing to constantly learn and adjust. Remember being flexible is amazing because life is all about learning. When you stop learning, you stop living. Whenever you run into a set back, learn from it, and adjust. Nothing is written in stone. 

10. Giving. As the cliche goes, and Anthony Robbins often says: "The secret to life is giving." It is really true that benevolence works wonders for us; the internal satisfaction we achieve is enormous. Just the other day, I stopped to take a few photos of a large family visiting New York City. I really took my time to capture the moment on camera, take several shots and from several angles. At the end, everyone walked away happy; the family was thankful, and I was happy to have been able to help. 

There you have it, the 10 traits of successful people. I want to hear from you, what does success mean to you? Are there any other traits you would suggest I add to my list? Leave me a comment below, I love hearing from you! 

(p.s. For the fashionistas, my outfit dissected: dress and hat from Zara; bag by Chanel; shoes by Yves Saint Laurent; eyeshadow by Makeup Forever, and lip stainer by Sephora).