We always tend to unravel the secrets behind the success of top personalities, always in the search to know how they are different from us. Here are the top 10 habits of successful people around the globe which you can improvise to pave your path ahead for a successful future:
Top 10 ways successful people think differently:
1. They pursue curiosity, not passion:
The most popular life advice—follow your passion. It’s prevalent because it is wise. The only problem, it’s easier said than done. And we spend much of life on a frantic goose-chase. In order to follow your passion, you need to find it. That’s where most of us need help—try make soufflé without a recipe.
Steve Jobs, CEO & Chairman, Apple Inc.
2. They dream big but remain grounded:
Successful people reach for the seemingly impossible, but they do so in a way that is actionable and realistic. While you may not know exactly how you’re going to achieve your dream, you need to make progress no matter how small the steps. For example, Elon Musk’s goal at SpacEx is to “Occupy Mars.” While this is a big dream, Musk keeps it realistic by engaging in regular steps that, some day, may get him there. SpacEx just landed a rocket upright on a boat in the ocean for the first time ever. It’s a far cry from colonizing Mars, but it’s an essential step in the process.
3. They always express and never try to impress:
Successful entrepreneurs always pursue their goals to achieve their targets but not to show off their achievements. They polish their tactics and talent without an intention of gaining popularity.
4.They seek out small victories:
Successful people like to challenge themselves and to compete, even when their efforts yield only small victories. Small victories build new androgen receptors in the areas of the brain responsible for reward and motivation. This increase in androgen receptors enhances the influence of testosterone, which further increases their confidence and eagerness to tackle challenges. When you achieve a series of small victories, the boost in your confidence can last for months.
5. They see chain reactions:
It only takes one falling domino to knock over the rest. Successful people rarely make isolated decisions but join the dots between actions and the outcomes.
To take the company to the next level, Paul O’Neill, former CEO of aluminum manufacturing giant Alcoa didn’t focus on advertising and marketing, or research and development. He focused on safety, reducing days lost to workplace injury by 90 percent. Within a year the company’s profits hit a record high. When O’Neill retired, profits were five times higher.
6. They schedule time for nothing:
Success is synonymous with hard work. However, some of the most accomplished people highlight a counterintuitive habit. Their hectic schedule includes allotted times for absolutely nothing. Of course, the times of nothing are far from nothing. Although physically unproductive, these times allow information they’ve been exposed to mix, mingle, and marinate, then produce new ideas and insights.
Creativity experts and psychologists call it the Incubation period. Creativity is often defined as the synthesis of disparate information. Consciously, we only catch a drop of the ocean that our mind is exposed to. Professor Timothy Wilson highlights the power of our unconscious mind in his book, Strangers to Ourselves. Our conscious mind processes about 40 bits of information per second, whereas the unconscious processes eleven million bits per second. Incubation allows for absorption and interaction between the two. Successful people regularly schedule time for ‘nothing’ when incubation can take place. They go for a stroll, eat lunch alone, sit in a park.
7. They keep an open mind :
Exposing yourself to a variety of people is useless if you spend that time disagreeing with them and comforting yourself with your own opinions. Successful people recognize that every perspective provides an opportunity for growth. You need to practice empathy by putting yourself in the other person’s shoes so that you can understand how their perspective makes sense (at least, to them). A great way to keep an open mind is to try to glean at least one interesting or useful thing from every conversation you have.
8. They always are in search for feedback:
Successful people are always in the lookout for feedback, it helps them improve overall and even makes them see their flaws, helping them to enhance their skills. For an Entrepreneur or a CEO of a company, a feedback is the direct catalyst for the improvement of the company. Customer reviews helps them to know what modification they need to make, makes them acquainted with the current trends and keeps them socialized.
9. They turn tedious tasks into games:
Every job entails some degree of tedium. For most people, tedium leads to sloppy, rushed work. Only the most successful people find ways to make the tedious interesting. By turning tedious work into a game, they challenge themselves and produce high-quality work, making things interesting in the process.
10. They expose themselves to a variety of people:
There’s no easier way to learn to think differently than spending time with someone whose strengths are your weaknesses or whose ideas are radically different from your own. This exposure sparks new ideas and makes you well rounded. This is why we see so many great companies with co-founders who stand in stark contrast to each other. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak from Apple were a prime example. Neither could have succeeded without the other.
