Author: Sophia Certification engineer, technical documentation developer.
Nowadays, it is difficult to imagine a person who would not want to achieve success in his career or in life in general, but this is not given to everyone. Many people feel they could do more in areas of their lives, but they don't know where to start, what to focus their attention on, or where to use their resources. Undoubtedly, anyone can become a successful person, but only under the condition of constant self-development. Success is not just luck. It is necessary to spend a lot of time studying the business, applying and improving your knowledge and skills even in the face of adversity and potential failure.
But this is still not enough! To achieve success, you need not only energy, time and the right skills, but also the qualities of a successful person.
What is success?
The very concept of “success” can be perceived in different ways: for some it is a career, a dream job, a high position in society, or the development of mental abilities, personal growth, charity, saving civilization, but for others success is love and family values.
In any case, success is achieving your desired goal, the opportunity to do what you like and live the way you like. A successful person is one who was able to start his own project and see it through to completion. A successful person always achieves his goals, whatever they may be. Successful people understand that they have choices in life and that they are responsible for any outcome of their efforts. They do not blame anyone or anything for their mistakes; on the contrary, they learn from their mistakes and move on. They don't give up on their goals when things don't go their way. They do their best and turn a problem into an opportunity leading to their personal success. So what qualities should a successful person have?
Summary information
Understanding the responsibility to ourselves, as well as to the people around us, we must clearly follow the plan. All goals must be achieved no matter what. It is very important to surround yourself with people who, just like you, strive to reach the top. If there are only losers around you, then you will not be able to achieve what you have in mind, they will always pull you down. Therefore, think carefully about which people can help you achieve success, and who will slow down your development.
To be successful, you need to be a hardworking and selfless person. Always help those in need and do not leave those around you in trouble. By following moral principles, you can multiply all your achievements and achieve real success.
From a psychological point of view
A science such as psychology provides its answers to the question of what a successful person is and what specific qualities he should have.
We invite you to familiarize yourself with the list of characteristics identified by Western and domestic psychologists. Moreover, many of them divide all human qualities into two groups.
In the first group:
- Energy and healthy lifestyle.
Today no one argues that “health” is another human resource comparable to others.
To work productively and bring your goals to life, you definitely need to pay attention to your health.
Energy is one of the manifestations of health. In the modern world, only a fast-thinking person, capable of changing his plans on the fly, can manage to implement plans, sometimes despite the circumstances.
- Sobriety, self-confidence.
Only a self-confident person is able to objectively assess his knowledge: do not underestimate, do not exaggerate. Thanks to this, he initially occupies an advantageous position in which he is able to show his best side, which he can develop.
At the same time, he soberly assesses his strengths, sees his weak points and points of growth. This allows him to focus on what will actually produce results. And he simply delegates those tasks in which he is weak to others.
Self-confidence is closely related to high self-esteem. Successful people understand that failure is what they do, not who they are. They also monitor warning signs of low self-esteem to ensure they always maintain a positive self-image. They understand that self-esteem is a state of mind, and choosing high self-esteem is much more beneficial than choosing low self-esteem.
- Discipline and self-control.
This point is put third, but its real importance is much greater.
In fact, it is difficult to name at least one successful person whose formula for success would not include these two simple words: “self-control” and “discipline.”
Only constant self-organization, the ability to get up on time, perform routine tasks and do your job with discipline, deny yourself desires and pleasures for the sake of a specific goal, lead to tangible results.
- Desire to set goals.
If there is no desire to achieve more in life, to reach some heights, then there is no need to talk about success. A purposeless life is in no way comparable to a successful person.
Successful people constantly seek clarity in their lives, they know what they want and follow their goal. Unclear desires and beliefs lead to unclear results. It is this sense of direction that gives them the tenacity to stick to their goals and realize their dreams.
- Hard work.
At trainings, the so-called “coaches” like to say: at one point they realized that they needed to do less, but with greater efficiency. All this is outright bullshit, forgive me for expressing my thoughts so simply.
All successful people, at some point in their lives, worked 14 hours a day and were passionate about their business, and only thanks to this they got ahead of their competitors and reached heights.
You can study dozens of biographies of the most successful people and be convinced that hard work is the basis of success.
Hard work is good. But you need to work in the area and area where your work brings maximum results. And everything else needs to be delegated to specialists.
The second group includes professional qualities:
- Effective time management.
Time management is the ability to properly distribute your time.
Sometimes it is important to focus on work, but there should be time for rest. It makes sense to work a lot, but we must not forget about the economics of the project and the search for potential investors.
A successful person makes plans. Not for a year, a month, but the next day. He knows very well that he will work in the morning, and in the afternoon he will meet with the right people to sign important contracts.
- Ability to plan and achieve results.
A well-written plan should be a natural extension of a good idea.
Planning is an important aspect that allows you to minimize risks and build processes in such a way that you get results.
- Responsibility.
Responsibility for the possible and achieved result is an important characteristic feature of an accomplished personality.
When a person feels responsible for the result, he tries to solve the problem quickly and efficiently. As a result, all the forces of the body and all knowledge are modernized.
- Ability to learn and think effectively
A modern specialist does not think for a second that he knows everything. This simply doesn't happen today.
Therefore, any successful person constantly learns, improves his skills, and acquires new knowledge. Moreover, it not only accumulates the information received, but constantly analyzes and looks for points of application.
Psychologists also highlight such a factor as social circle as a separate category. It is already easy to understand that the formula for success does not involve communicating with people who are simply “wasting their lives.” A person striving for success and self-development seeks communication with like-minded people. And, on the contrary, he avoids communicating with people who hinder his professional development.
One should not think that such a life becomes burdensome, turns life into some kind of planned hell. In fact, very soon a person’s thinking changes, and he is already completely immersed in the processes of creation, creation, and work.
Basic mistakes
What prevents a person from achieving success?
- The opinion that nothing can be changed.
- Self-doubt and fear of failure.
- Fear of change.
- Fussiness is when a person rushes from one idea to another.
- Shifting responsibility to others. As a result, the person continues to do things that lead to an even greater aggravation of the problem.
- Self-pity. Sometimes you need to suffer a little in the current moment in order to get something more in the future. And if you feel sorry for yourself excessively, a person begins to avoid negative experiences and, as a result, misses the result. After some time, the habit of feeling sorry for oneself goes into the subconscious, and the person ceases to be aware of it, but it continues to destroy his life.
- Lack of flexibility of thinking. There is a very good metaphor that describes the differences between a successful person and an unsuccessful one. The last one will come to the party to find love. If you fail to meet a person of the opposite sex, then unsuccessful men or women leave in upset feelings. A successful person, even if he doesn’t find love, meets good friends.
- Thinking in a negative way. Anthony Robbins said that we often overestimate ourselves in the present moment and underestimate ourselves in the future. Therefore, you need to be optimistic and understand that everything will end well in the end. Then they won’t give up if something doesn’t work out now. Moreover, in order to become rich and successful, psychologists say that you need to set goals in a positive form. It is correct to ask the question: “how to become financially independent”, “how to get out among people” instead of “how to stop being a loser” or “how to get out of poverty”. The dominant motivation of successful people is to achieve, not to avoid. The same goes for envy. Successful people learn from people who have achieved more. Losers simply envy them and do nothing.
- The lack of support and understanding from others unsettles you. A successful person does not depend on other people's opinions.
From a material point of view
The world is structured in such a way that it is quite difficult to separate material wealth from the overall success of an individual. You can be a brilliant chemist, but without having a modern laboratory, the construction of which costs a lot of money, it is unrealistic to achieve anything.
Therefore, the formula for success must be formed with an eye on the material world, on what can be calculated in monetary terms.
A successful person looks a little different from the material side. What is he like? This is discussed below:
- Financial condition.
There’s no need to explain anything here, because 90% of the world’s population directly equate money and success. As the proverb says: “If you are so smart, why don’t you have millions?”
- Status
. The second big reason for doing your best to achieve your goals. Status, influence, power - for some people they are even more valuable than money.
- The opportunity to live the way you like, free leisure, travel.
Here you can add luxury apartments, cars, things. This factor is often used when “showing off.”
Personality qualities that contribute to success
So, having listed the signs of success, you can try to highlight those qualities that help each person and form the formula for success.
- What contributes to successful activity, if we consider the structure of society objectively. More on this below.
- The ability to convince others. Some people construct dialogue so precisely and know how to choose their words that it is difficult to disagree with them.
- The ability to foresee the near future at some mental level. Almost like in chess, they “see” several moves ahead and use this knowledge.
- Physical and mental endurance. This characteristic is closely related to health, but is not entirely identical to it. To achieve high results, you need to have a certain endurance to withstand all possible tests.
- Formation of one's own personality. Unfortunately, the education system is designed in such a way as to bring everyone to the average. Therefore, people who are able to resist circumstances, who are ready to assert their identity, almost always achieve success.
- The ability to properly communicate with others. Some people are able to understand the state of their interlocutor, neighbor, or employee sitting next to them. They use this skill.
- Particular flexibility in relationships. Such people know how to retreat when they admit that they are wrong. As a result, they often receive compromise from rivals where others suffer a crushing defeat.
The role of chance: how society should treat scientific findings about success
The factors discussed above do not exhaust the list of reasons influencing human well-being that are considered by modern sociology of achievements. There is a large body of research concerning, for example, such predictors as:
- the presence of “influential others” in the person’s professional or academic environment;
- the role of chance and place of birth;
- height and physical attractiveness;
- various behavioral characteristics, such as aggressiveness, shyness, social inadaptability;
- parenting style, family size, etc.
However, they can all be correlated with three global metafactors: environment, intelligence as measured by cognitive tests, and personality—with the last two considered the most statistically significant. But here, when assessing these factors, social psychology faces the question: what is behind this statistical significance?
Are standard cognitive tests able to measure a person's intelligence and draw conclusions about his thinking based on this: can a mathematical or visual test confirm the speed and quality of a person's decision-making outside of a real-life context? Based on research, maybe.
There is a connection between tests and professional and academic achievements. But what is behind this relationship: a person’s actual cognitive abilities used when passing tests, or increased motivation, responsibility and interest in solving abstract problems?
Motivation and interest, which are transmitted further - from tests to other activities. But if we are talking about motivation, what is behind it and what shapes it - goals, parental and social examples, random environmental factors? Here social psychology offers much fewer concrete answers.
The same applies to predictors related to a person’s character. Under the influence of what are certain character traits, temperament or behavior of an individual formed - and is it possible to influence this process, provoking the manifestation of more adaptive traits in children?
One of the biggest scientific debates in the history of psychology is the “Genes versus Environment” debate.
Behaviorism, which dominated psychology for a long time, asserting that all facets of the human personality are formed under the influence of the external environment, by the end of the 20th century began to give way to the idea of heritability of many human characteristics.
Barriers to the growth of professional skills
It is noteworthy that even with many positive and “strong” qualities, many people do not achieve success. The fact is that there are barriers that limit human development. Some of them become such a solid wall that they completely block the possibilities for a successful life.
The list of psychological qualities that clearly impede a successful life can be very wide. The main ones should be listed:
A person is simply afraid of new situations. This is a very serious problem that is almost impossible to achieve success in most areas.
- Fear of possible psychological discomfort and pain. Such a person simply does not try to make new contacts, does not get involved in a new business. In such conditions it is difficult to become a successful person.
- Underestimating yourself, your skills and talents. The problem stems from childhood, from improper upbringing, and becomes an insurmountable barrier to the formation of an adult successful personality. This includes distrust of one’s abilities and fear of any mistake.
- Lack of skills and abilities. A weak knowledge base, a lack of profession in principle - all this also does not contribute to a successful life. It is impossible to erect a building without laying a foundation. And here it’s exactly the same: no knowledge, skills, skills - no ideas, confidence, plans.
The above psychological factors become a serious obstacle to the development of one’s personality and achievement of goals.
Social background and education are the key to human well-being
The most studied factor of material success and future social mobility in children by modern psychology is the socioeconomic status of parents, assessed by the following parameters:
- duration of education and level of education of father and mother;
- annual income and real estate of the family;
- professional status and social class of parents.
In general, the identified correlation between these indicators and the level of income, together with the career achievements of children in adulthood, is up to 20%.
For psychology, 20% is a large dependence, the mechanisms of action of which are clear even without complex sociological research: family income directly affects the child’s starting opportunities and his social capital, which, in turn, affect the amount of earnings and social status of a person in the future.
Research in this area has been carried out since the 1960s. Using fairly large samples of people, scientists were able to trace the influence of parental factors throughout an individual’s life.
It is appropriate to note here that the role of family background is not direct, but is largely indirect through another important indicator - the level of education, which in various works can be defined as:
- number of years of study;
- index of prestige of educational institutions;
- having an academic degree;
- qualification certificates, etc.
Moreover, the correlation between education and the prestige of a profession, income level or social class in the future can be up to 40%, which makes this factor the most important in determining the trajectory of a person’s achievements.
The identified relationship between the level of well-being and a person’s social background and education can, based on these studies, be visualized as follows:
Qualities of the most successful people
Western researchers have collected a database and analyzed the lives of the most successful people. Among the objects of attention, as expected, were: Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Arkady Volozh, Pavel Durov, Evgeny Kaspersky and others.
Based on an analysis of the biographies of the most successful business representatives, researchers were able to identify basic personal qualities that are likely to contribute to success.
Desire comes first
Surprisingly, the engine of many achievements was a banal “obsession.” The most successful individuals in modern history were so passionate about their goals that they did not notice obstacles.
Serious internal impulse
The model of life is based on the banal: wanted and did. For these people there are no external obstacles; they simply have not heard the arguments against.
Unjustified optimism
Where others would think and measure seven times, they begin to act. They firmly believe in their strengths and abilities, in the uniqueness of the idea, in the demand for a service or product.
Even major failures cannot shake the strong optimism that simply gushes out of them.
They firmly believe that there are no obstacles that a person cannot overcome.
Living in the present
The most successful people of our time are so competent in time that they literally operate with time:
- evaluate ideas realistically;
- think about the short term;
- are able to connect strategic development plans with current needs.
Think according to the “need/don’t need” principle
This kind of thinking is usually called “black and white” and is not generally encouraged by society. But, surprisingly, the success formula of the best representatives of our time is built on this type of thinking.
When all life situations are easily sorted into “necessary” and “not necessary”, it is easier to achieve many goals.
The perception of the world around is simplified, and the goal becomes more clear and achievable.
Charisma
It's strange that this point is so far from the beginning of the section, because it is often fundamental.
It is difficult to achieve something in splendid isolation, but in order for the team to work on your idea, they need to be captivated and convinced.
It is noteworthy that almost all successful people, at the stage of establishing their first business, did their best to convince others to work for the idea.
Tendency to take risks
“He who doesn’t take risks, doesn’t drink champagne” - this phrase is very suitable for many people who are considered successful after the fact.
Ability to take responsibility
Every successful businessman perfectly feels his boundaries of responsibility: for words, employees, friends, a common cause.
Despite their straightforward thinking, startup owners understood perfectly well where and when they needed to take full responsibility in order to increase their business reputation and give confidence to others.
Rational attitude towards money
Those who have achieved everything themselves have a much simpler attitude towards money and consider it a means to achieve goals.
- There is no hoarding for the sake of hoarding.
- There is no unrestrained spending on luxury.
- Money ceases to be a goal, but becomes a tool for further development.
They spend all the funds received on new projects, solutions, and innovative ideas.
Modesty, democratic views
Almost all modern intellectual leaders and owners of modern corporations are democrats. Some clearly and openly support this form of government, others indirectly preach the ideas themselves. Yes, they may not support a particular government in a particular country right now, but in general, they always show democratic views.
High ability to adapt
The world is changing so quickly that it is simply impossible to exist without this skill.
Successful people always know how to adapt to new realities, challenges, and systems. This is what allows them to remain among the leaders for many years and even decades.
The price of character: mentality as the most stable personality factor
Another factor considered by social psychology as a predictor of future success is the individual's character, expressed by the big five key megatraits:
- goodwill ( agreeableness
) - a person’s disposition towards cooperation, trust and harmonious interaction with other people; - openness to experience - a
tendency towards intellectual curiosity, creativity and expansion of one's own horizons ; - extraversion ( extraversion
) - enthusiasm, external energy and desire to communicate; - consciousness ( conscientiousness
) - an individual’s demonstration of purposefulness and personal organization; - neuroticism ( neuroticism
) - the degree of response to stress and external factors.
For a long time, the active role of character in a person’s achievements was not taken seriously by academic sociology; at the moment, meta-studies highlight a correlation of up to 25% between personal traits and future professional status and job satisfaction.
Among character traits, the most obvious favorite in influencing the level of well-being is conscientiousness, which can be translated into Russian as “consciousness” or “conscientiousness” and which includes such traits as responsibility, hard work and self-control.
There is a huge amount of research confirming the positive impact of conscientiousness not only on future educational or professional success, but also on reducing mortality rates and the likelihood of divorce, on increasing school performance and life satisfaction in general.
It is not surprising that this particular trait now has the status of the most sought-after in popular psychology, which is expressed in various new qualities in which it appears in the self-development literature: for example, the trait “grit” (resilience, diligence) identified by psychologist Angela Duckworth or the concept of Growth Mindset (“Growth Mindset”). growth mindset" developed by psychologist Carol Dweck.
