What Makes a Person a Success?
I just spent the day with a BILLIONAIRE.
You heard me right. BILLIONAIRE.
20 million dollar house surrounded by opulence.
When people think of success, they typically think of those who have a lot of money, power, and fame. Although a person can have all of these things and still be unsuccessful, a person who is not wealthy, powerful, or famous can still be considered successful.
For example, a person may have a successful business and a solid career. He may have a great job and be very well-respected by his co-workers. However, this person still may not have enough money to find a place in the top 10% earners. However, this does not mean that this person is not successful.
BEING “SUCCESSFUL” IS RELATIVE
A person can achieve success in their life in many ways, even if he/she does not take the most prestigious jobs or reach a very high income.
The flip side is true as well. Being successful can also mean making lots of money and there’s nothing wrong with that either. There’s a strange growing trend to vilify the rich when nothing can be further from the truth.
I spent the day with him and his lovely wife, 12 week old daughter and pets. We spoke about many things and he took me for a ride in his golf cart through a beautiful marshland community with blue heron, alligators, eagles and all manner or wildlife. He was very gracious and genuinely a nice guy.
If you provide a service or product people want, you should be paid in proportion to the amount of people you help fix their problem.
SKINNY WALLET DISEASE
That’s what he fixed for people and frankly that’s what I do too. I’ve helped people collectively earn over a billion dollars in income. Uhhhh yeah.
So, what makes a person a success? Consider these traits:
1. Truly successful people know the importance of forgiveness. To a successful person, forgiveness is not something they “should” do, but something that is “natural” for them. If someone offends them, they know that forgiveness will help them move forward.
● Rather than hold on to a grudge or allow the offense to affect their day-to-day happiness negatively, they choose to forgive the offender and move forward with their lives.
● This trait makes them successful because their ability to forgive others relieves them of many of their negative emotions and allows them to focus on moving closer to the goals that they want to achieve.
2. They know when to stay or leave an endeavor. A truly successful person knows when to keep doing the things that they’re already doing and when it’s time to try something new.
● When they’re working on something that they are currently passionate about, successful people stick with their projects and don’t get frustrated or burned out because they feel stymied or bored. When they realize that they no longer enjoy what they’re doing, they move on to something new.
● They rely on their intuition and gut instincts to determine what they should continue doing and which projects they should abandon.
● And usually, they’re right because they have a mountain of experience under their belts, so they can easily recognize when work is no longer worthwhile for them.
3. Successful people don’t fear failure – they welcome it. A truly successful person knows that failure is not harmful. They understand that the only failure is giving up. They know that when they fail, it means that they’re not doing something right and that the failure helps them to learn and grow.
● Loss helps them figure out what they need to do to improve and then continue making progress.
● Many people buy into the concept of overnight success. But we all know that this is impossible. Success comes over a long period, requiring a lot of hard work and patience.
4. They build good habits that help them to succeed. It’s essential to live a balanced life, including eating nutritious food, exercising, and getting plenty of sleep. Successful people have healthy habits that help them maintain their overall health and vitality.
● They recognize that all of the work they put in now will set them up for tremendous success down the road. But that doesn’t mean you need to kill yourself in the quest to succeed.
While money and power can be helpful, they are not essential to success. Success is not contingent upon becoming famous or making a lot of money although money is many times a natural byproduct.
Instead, the key to success is having beneficial habits and adopting positive behaviors. If you can do this, you will be fine regardless of whether you’re rich or poor. But I can tell you from experience, rich is so much more fun.
Be Strong 💪
Gwen Patrone
#TransPreneur. gwenpatrone.com
5 Responses
Gwen,
One thing I learned as a professional photographer is you never know who you are rubbing shoulders with . I never knew the background to most of my customers , the only ones I did were members of the Royal Family . In those circumstances you do realise because of the armed security surrounding them .
Sorry but I can’t totally go along with your assumptions on wealthy and/or succseful people , I did business with some and preferred not to again . I admit I feared failure , sometimes it was a valuable lesson and sometimes something that’s very difficult to recover from , to fail or not is not always in your hands . How many succesful businesses have not survived the downturn through covid ? Most town High Streets have been devestated in the UK .
How do you really quantify success or wealth ? It partly depends on the culture and society we live in , it also begs the question are we too materialistic , success and wealth have totally different meaning in some countries .
Teresa,
Thanks for the reply. Success for me has changed over the years. I used to think it was making the next sale and hustling harder. It wasn’t until my focus changed after being mentored by one if those rich people that my focus changed. He said, “Focus on helping and solving a problem for as many people as you can. The money is a byproduct of helping people. Money shouldnt be the focus.”
Yes, there are some shitty rich people and lets be fair… poor people too. But the demonization of the rich which seems to be all the rage is totally misplaced IMHO. Money just magnifies who you are as a person. Sometimes it corrupts. Other times it is an enabler for growth and good deeds. It depends on the core values of the person with it.
Thanks for your comments.
Gwen
Thought provoking stuff as always, Gwen.
I’d like to add another one to the list and that’s taking ownership. I started a business after a two decade corporate career in mid 2008, just as the recession started to take hold. I then spent the next few months blaming the recession and anything else handy for our poor performance. In the end, the penny dropped – we were trading in exactly the same recession as everyone else and we could either complain until we went under or grasp the nettle and try to negotiate our way through it which we did and we’re still trading, fourteen years later.
To bring this back to relevance with Kandi’s Land, it’s all too easy to blame others for our own predicaments regarding acceptance. The fact that my confession to my wife in 2013 went so spectacularly wrong was not my wife’s fault – she had every right to disapprove – but mine for completely abdicating responsibility to control the narrative from both her point of view (she disapproves but what can I do to help her understand/tolerate?) and mine (I need to do this and need to factor that in to any compromise I agree to). That then opened the door for her to completely ‘own’ the situation with a large negative impact for me as a result.
Hi Amanda,
Taking responsibility is an ellusive trait these days. The blame game is the trend. You seem to have taken charge. When we do, there’s no guarantee that it’ll turn out the way we hoped it would. Only that you took action.
I too am fighting my battle to be Gwen. My wife tolerates her but wants her husband back. All I can do is keep reassuring her that she’s loved, wanted and appreciated and see where it takes us.
Good luck.
Gwen
Amanda,
There really isn’t a right time to ” come out ” , I knew something had to change , I was shutting down with a feeling my head would explode . I was a little surprised my wife didn’t have a clue obviously we obsess and panic about telltales others never notice . It took about couple of weeks for the wall to go up , I’m not sure what I expected all I knew is I wanted to share this very intimate thing with my wife , from then on it just went down hill , I felt so rejected and unloved . Since our separation and subsequent divorce I know my wife regrets the way she dealt with the situation , she didn’t realise what she was losing till it was too late . I always made it clear my door remained open to her , we could still work it out as friends , we still needed to be there for our children and grandchildren ,she has met me once to bring me the marriage certificate so I could proceed with the divorce . There have been heated arguments she felt it was wrong that my daughter had totally accepted me and allowed me free access to the granddaughter , that’s now resolved . My son had met me several times but their feelings are their two young sons aren’t old enough to understand , the ball is very much in their court so I patiently wait for the right time .