7 Habits of Highly Successful People Worth Emulating

As we near the beginning of a new month and draw even closer to the end of the year, I’ve been spending the last few days in reflection of the year I’ve had. At this time back in 2019, I was preparing to begin the first semester of the last year of my undergraduate degree. Looking back I remember having mixed feels about being that much closer to being finished with school and what my life may look like after. Needless to say, 2020 significantly altered the way I’d envisioned my last year of school to go, not to mention what my debut in the working world would look like.

Though dejected and saddened that my final year would culminate within a virtual classroom and that my job prospects after school appeared bleak, I remained determined to make the best of a bad situation. Today, the information I share with you isn’t just generic. They are actions that for me have indeed become habits to which I owe the successes I’ve reaped thus far. Here are a few habits highly successful people generally have in common that we should all seek to emulate:

1. They are Persistent

If you have ever listened to an interview with anyone who has achieved fame and success, I’m pretty sure that somewhere within the timeline of their success story you’ll find that before they became successful they endured many failures. Maybe they struggled in their academics, got their business proposals turned down, or simply didn’t have the finances to pursue their dreams. Regardless of what challenges they faced, however, they are where they are today due to a fighting spirit and a resolve to remain persistent regardless of the outcome.

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your Enthusiasm”

- Winston Churchill

2. They are Willing To Learn

While it is highly impossible for any one person to learn everything about everything the world has to offer, I do not subscribe to the view that a person should be subjected to only learning ‘everything’ about one thing, and neither should you. Who said a person can only be a Fashion Designer, a Teacher, or a Doctor? What if I decide I want to be all 3?

You see, the thing about successful people is that they do not subscribe to the norms of society. They are always thinking outside of the box and are always willing to learn and obtain new skills. In fact, it is through this blatant disregard for the box that they often reap success drawing on the many skills they’ve attained over the years.

“The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice”

- Brian Herbert

3. They are Positive

Have you encountered someone who seems to always be high in spirit? Like, literally nothing and no one gets them down. This person sees everything you would consider as something ‘negative’ as an opportunity to learn and believes the bad patch they are faced with now is merely the rain before the rainbow.

By now you’re probably thinking to yourself that there’s no way such a positive person can exist when the world is full of so many negative nancies. I’ll admit that unfortunately, these people are rare but in truth successful people genuinely are. Which is why the exhibition of such high levels of positivity, is literally what successful people do.

“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.”

- Willie Nelson

4. They are Risk Takers

Sometimes becoming successful requires you to take a calculated risk and the biggest risk you should make in life is a risk on yourself. This isn’t to say you should go about taking risks “Willy- Nilly”, you’ll definitely need to evaluate the pros and cons first but you can’t expect anyone to take a risk on you if you’re fearful of taking a risk on yourself. Ask any successful person what risk they took to get where they are today and you might be surprised by their stories.

Take Bill Gates, for example, 2 years into Harvard well on his way to completing his degree and suddenly he decides now is the time to stop going to school and kickstart his business. I’m sure at the time he chose to take this risk people thought that he was crazy. However, one lesson we can all learn from his experience is that the key to success may involve risking everything to fulfill your dreams but once you believe and you are confident in yourself you can attain success.

"If there is no risk, there is no reward”

- Christy Raedeke

5. They are Humble

Some of the most successful people you will ever meet in life will not look it. Want to know why? Successful people are assured by their own successes and do not depend on others to validate this. You may not see them wearing the latest designer outfits or purchasing the most expensive things money can buy, not because they can’t afford it but because they are more obsessed with the idea of actually ‘being’ successful rather than ‘looking’ it.

They acknowledge that although they are successful they are not superior to anyone else and so, see every interaction as an opportunity to learn from their companion. If you ask me, if more of us adopted this mindset, the world would probably be a better place because fewer persons would be interested in focusing on their image and would instead spend time putting in the necessary work to attain their goals whilst, viewing every relationship as a mutually beneficial one whereby all parties involved can grow and learn.

“Every person that you meet knows something you don't; learn from them”

- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

6. They are Goal Oriented

If you aim to attain success in life then each of your actions in preparation for that success needs to be intentional. It is not sufficient to sit around and will good things to happen to you if you don’t attempt to ready yourself for the things you will do when they happen. I recently read Jen Sincero’s book “You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life” and I’ll relay a very important message she brought up with you.

The message is “Act As If”. Let’s say you’re hellbent on meeting the President of the United States of America but you have no idea how this is ever going to happen, MAKE PREPARATIONS. Decide on the outfit you’ll wear and what things you’ll talk about when you do. This is a perfect example of being intentional in your actions and shows how successful people become successful not because they’re lucky, but because they set goals and they work towards them.

“All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible”

- Orison Swett Marden

7. They possess Multiple Income Streams

The topic of having multiple streams of income is one that I have become very passionate about this year and if you have seen or felt the economic upheaval that the current pandemic has led to you’ll understand why. I have already discussed this topic extensively in the post “6 Life Lessons I Learned in the First Half of 2020” as well as on Season 1 Episode 3 of the weeklydoseoftherapy podcast which you can listen to by clicking here, but let me just say, rich people, know how to stay rich.

Unlike the average person, who finds a job and probably stays in only that field for more than 15 years, highly successful people are always looking for more and generally easy ways to make an additional income. For them, it’s not enough to own their own businesses. They want to purchase acres upon acres of land that they will then lease to you, or build apartment complexes where you can live while paying rent to them or they’re purchasing stocks in companies that maybe are even larger than theirs.

I could go on and on about the many ways highly successful people stay rich but the point I’m trying to make is that for them, having multiple income streams is a habit which we should all try to emulate.

“In today’s uncertain economy, the safest solution to be wealthy, be in total control and enjoy freedom for you and your family is to have multiple streams of income”

- Robert. G. Allen

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