Four Characteristics of Successful People…
- Tough Minded Optimism! This is required to not only see the opportunities which present themselves but also provides for resilience and perseverance when obstacles are encountered along the way. Whereas a glass-half-empty person might look around them and complain that all the good opportunities and ideas have already been taken, a glass-half-full person would see these same emerging technologies and ideas and recognise that these instead open the door to a whole new era of possibilities and opportunities. Note also that I’m not saying blind optimism, but rather a tough minded optimism as both the optimistic outlook coupled with a realistic mindset are required for this – and together they make a powerful combination towards achieving one’s goals.
- A Concentration of Efforts Toward the Task! As the saying goes, “Jack of all trades but a master of none”, the same is true for successful people. Rarely will you find somebody who has attained success through fleeting interests and a constantly shifting focus away from a singular ultimate target. To succeed you must commit yourself to your mission and see this through to completion. It would surprise you to learn how many potentially million dollar ideas were given up on in the final stages of their implementation.
- The Relentless Pursuit of Success. Big dreams typically require big efforts and as such the goal has to be worth the efforts required to achieve it. The most successful people in the world didn’t dedicate their lives to the pursuit of modest objectives. Worst case scenario, if you aim for the moon then even if you miss you will end up amongst the stars.
And finally…
- A Willingness to Work. Success doesn’t come to you, you go to it. If you have a dream and really want to succeed in achieving it, then you must be willing to put in the time and energy to make it happen. No man has ever attained greatness by laying back in his living room arm chair waiting for it to unfold before them
This is Dale Carnegie’s summary of his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, from 1936;
Table of Contents
- Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
- Six Ways to Make People Like You
- How to Win People to Your Way of Thinking
- Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
- Don’t criticize, condemn or complain.
- Give honest and sincere appreciation.
- Arouse in the other person an eager want.
Six ways to make people like you
- Become genuinely interested in other people.
- Smile.
- Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
- Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
- Talk in terms of the other person’s interests.
- Make the other person feel important – and do it sincerely.
Win people to your way of thinking
- The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
- Show respect for the other person’s opinions. Never say, “You’re wrong.”
- If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
- Begin in a friendly way.
- Get the other person saying “yes, yes” immediately.
- Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
- Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
- Try honestly to see things from the other person’s point of view.
- Be sympathetic with the other person’s ideas and desires.
- Appeal to the nobler motives.
- Dramatize your ideas.
- Throw down a challenge.
Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
A leader’s job often includes changing your people’s attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:
- Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
- Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly.
- Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
- Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
- Let the other person save face.
- Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”
- Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
- Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
- Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.
1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, “life.”
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately “work.”
4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end. There’s no part of life that doesn’t contain its lessons. If you’re alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.
6. “There” is no better a place than “here.” When your “there” has become a “here”, you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here.”
7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life’s questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
10. You will forget all this.
Original post by Cherie Carter-Scott
When you ask the question, what really motivates people, a common misconception is that if you dangle a larger monetary incentive before someone, that they will automatically begin to perform better. However research identified in Daniel Pink’s book, Drive, indicates that this is only true for simpler, more repetitive tasks.
For more complex tasks which require greater degrees of conceptual reasoning, motivations is actually driven through increased autonomy, giving the person the opportunity for self actualization through attaining a mastery of a subject, and in the creation or establishment of a sense of purpose which that person can directly identify with and work toward.
Below is an excellent 10 minute video by RSA Animate which delves into this concept a little further (well worth the watch):
Read More...This is a beautiful video whenever you need to take some time out and put life back into perspective;
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