10 Words That Describe Highly Successful People
Hanniffa Patterson
The internet has opened up the possibility of interacting with wonderful people from all over the world, right from our screens at home. Over the last year, I’ve met some wonderful and extremely successful individuals online. In interacting with them, I started to notice a few traits that I believe help them stand out from the crowd and maintain their success.
Below are 10 words that describe the traits these individuals seem to possess.
1. Positive
The successful people I have interacted with so far, have been overwhelmingly positive. There are no recurrent complaining comments about life giving them lemons, nor are there hour long conversations about how badly their last business deal went. They are constantly and consistently looking up and moving forward, and it comes out in their words and attitude towards life. Their thinking? – Tomorrow is always a new day, with new opportunities. It’s always worth a try, things will no doubt turn out better than you expect. If it doesn’t, so what, let’s move forward.
2. Perseverant
We often think that success is a straight unhindered path to the top. However, this is very far from the truth. In fact, the road to success is often lined with numerous challenges.
Many of the individuals I’ve observed, have endured, one or in some cases several serious setbacks, challenges and disappointments. Be it divorce, poor health, or an outright business failure. However, one thing that remains present, these individuals simply do not give up.
Don’t get me wrong, they may be down for a while, they may even battle with a season of depression. However, inevitably they hit back and come forth from the ashes a little bit stronger and more determined to conquer. They just keep pushing. Whether it’s while having to live in a friend’s spare room or writing from a prison cell. They simply refuse to let hopelessness completely and permanently overwhelm them.
3. Care (about People)
It seems in business today everyone’s eyes are locked at the top aiming for the ultimate goal of wealth, riches and self actualization. And unfortunately, some people are so determined to arrive that they are willing to get there through sabotage, manipulation and other downright dishonest and unethical activities.
In addition, though people are increasingly connected, studies show they are also more lonely. We are constantly being bombarded to buy and so a friendly, genuine voice amidst the noise is refreshing.
The successful individuals I’ve met, actually care about people. They don’t just peddle their products, but instead share their insights and encouragement. Therefore building authentic and valuable relationships, which more often than not eventually spill over into business. People today, prefer to buy from and deal with people they like…It’s that simple.
4. Generous
This point could possibly be titled point 3.a. as it is undeniably linked to the last one. Successful individuals are generous with their time, knowledge and in some instances finances. They not only earn lavishly, but are often involved in and/or seek out ways to give back. They want to help others however they can.
Once when I wasn’t feeling well, a member of an awesome group I’m in on Facebook, surprised me by sending a bottle of Chinese herbs to my home in Paris along with a little notebook. This guy is a world class marketer, he didn’t need to, but he’s just a genuinely good person with a heart for helping others.
Another person I know, opened a Facebook group, with the intention of simply helping people to make a difference in the world. This stemmed from his own personal experience of loss (a failed marriage) and struggle with suicide. His group has now grown to over 10,000 members, yet he still responds to private messages and posts personally to the group daily.
This in turn has opened so many doors for him. He’s gotten media attention on major networks and more recently was offered a book deal. These are just two people I know who give, give and give, and it just keeps coming back…in the form of more successes. .
5. Integrity
I have heard of cases where individuals turned down fairly lucrative deals, with sometimes even dream clients. I’ve seen them kick marketing superstars out of Facebook groups because despite being told, said ‘star’ refused to follow group rules. Doing such things may seem counter-productive, crazy, dangerous even. But to the successful folks I’ve met, this fifth trait is of paramount importance…integrity.
To them it matters that they keep their word, they message if they can no longer make a meeting (even if its on Skype) and pay their business partners on time. They, are not afraid to tell you where you went wrong or to apologize where they have gone wrong themselves. They try their best to treat everyone with the same level of respect. Integrity in business and in life, is important to them. Even if it means losing a sale or an opportunity. To them a light conscience is more important than a heavy wallet.
6. Self – Forgiving
Successful people are honest about their failures, yet forgiving with themselves. Though they may have regrets like everyone else, they have mastered the ability of moving forward and of forgetting and forgiving themselves for these mistakes. They realize that dwelling on “regret island” is counter productive and only serves as a shackle to future accomplishments. They grieve, recoup then move on to the next project.
7. Excuse-free
While the successful don’t hit themselves over the head for every mistake or poor decision made, they equally don’t give themselves a free pass either. They make no room for excuses. Mistakes and failures are a chance to learn. So they admit their role in the fault, analyze the decision, see where they went wrong or could have done better. Then they set out not to do it again.
They realize that when we make excuses we are refusing to face our issues or are choosing to shrink back in fear.
8.Confident
I’ve observed that successful people have a high level of confidence – A belief that what they have is special and worthwhile. (This may sometimes be misinterpreted for conceit but it is not the case. Conceit is an excessive pride in one’s self). However, it is this confidence that helps them to be able to push past the nay-sayers and go against the grain. It takes a strong self belief to ignore everyone and truly stand by an idea or product. Especially if its never been done before and/or high risk. It’s this confidence that also helps them to navigate through possible failures encountered on the road to success.
9. Relationship-masters
Successful individuals tend to be masters at building relationships. People like them because of all of the reasons noted above. Not only are they competent but they are also genuine, positive and generous. And this inspires us. They reach out to others, and are often connectors (people who bring other people together.)
People feel at ease in their presence, and so enjoy speaking with them and sharing with them. We could define this as authentic networking. They build friendships without striving to prove ‘who’ they are, simply because who they really are, naturally and consistently comes to the surface.
10. Focus.
Finally, they are focused. A copywriter contact (now friend) of mine epitomizes this for me. During his designated daily working hours, he shuts himself off in the Starbucks in his area to write, as he would call it “dragon-slaying” copy. Once he’s in the zone, the world could be on fire, a dog could be chewing away at his foot, he’s not available. His dedicated time for work is exactly that, dedicated for work- until his next break. People who are successful master the ability to focus on a task(s) at hand.
So there it is. My list of the ten words that describe successful people. The traits I’ve noted in the individuals I’ve met online over the last year.
I must admit, it’s quite a daunting list. However, don’t get discouraged. No one is perfect, not even those who seem to have mastered it all. We all possess some of these qualities, but we might be stronger in some than in others. Possibly in seeing this list, we can take steps to work towards improving in those areas where we need to and pat ourselves on the back, in the areas where we already excel.
