People in Common

After reading many books, attending many seminars and my observation of all the successful people in the world, I discovered that there's several things that differentiate them from the rest. That's how they stand up from the rest and become successful. Here're the things that successful people share in common: 1. they know exactly what they want and their purpose in life. Most people are not "outstanding" becos they have not really thought through what do they really want. They ended up just drifting through life with little purpose and end up not achieving much. 2. they have a burning desire (passion) in what they have chosen to do (purpose). Most people do not achieve success not becos they are not smart enough or anything like that. Most people do not achieve success becos they "give up too soon". Successful people have a burning passion in what they set out to do. In fact, they might even be ridiculed for what they "dream" of doing when they initially started. And they had "many failures" before they finally tasted success. I can just name you a few examples and you would know all these people were ridiculed for their "dreams" before they finally made their dreams a reality. eg. Thomas Edison (who tried inventing light bulb), Wright brothers (who tried to invent a flying machine), Henry Ford (who tried to invent a horseless carriage), Walt Disney (who wants funding to build "the happiest place on earth" - Disneyland), Alexandra Graham Bell (who tried to make people talk through long distance through wires). Locally, Sim Wong Hoo who tried to make computer play fantastic sound. What is the driving force that kept them going and going when others have given up? I discoverd it is becos they have immense passion for what they set out to do. 3. Not only do they have immense passion, they also have "strong belief" in themselves. As Henry Ford said:"Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right". They have strong belief in themselves even when doubt surrounds them. 4. How they view failures is also a main reason for their success. Most people "avoid failures". When they fail, they might try again for a 2nd time. Most do not try the 3rd time, and rarely do people try for 4th time after 3 attempts. I discovered that successful people have a different way of looking at failures. They treat failure as "feedback" that they need to try to do it differently. For instance, when Thomas Edison was asked how he felt about his 9,999 times of failing to invent the light bulb. He corrected the reporter that he found 9,999 ways of how not to make a light bulb light! To the successful people, the only time they really fail is when they give up. So they know that as long as they don't give up, success will be theirs, sooner or later. 5. Please note that successful people don't keep repeating the same mistakes. While majority of people tend to repeat their mistakes. For instance, people keep falling for scams even when the "modus operandi" of scams have been known for ages. When they fail, successful people know there's no point doing things the same way they tried before, they would make some changes and try again. Remember, the definition of "insanity" is to keep doing the same things and expect a different result. 6. Successful people keep learning and they don't rely on themselves alone. They know how to "leverage" on other peoples' experiences, knowledge, expertise etc. For instance, Henry Ford is not a "technical expert on cars", he just assembled a team of "experts" and tap on the experts' knowledge, experience, expertise to make a better car. 7. Successful people are very clear of what the end result they want to see. They have clearly painted "picture" of the end result. In fact, they are so clear of the end result they want that they can even describe clearly how it would look like so as to gather support for others to support their dream. As Albert Einstein said:"They can "preview" the future. And in their mind, they can already picture themselves achieving what they want even when many people said to them it is impossible. The best thing is that everyone can be successful in whatever we want to do. Here's wishing everyone out there success in whatever you want to succeed in.

By: Dennis Ng