Sometimes the desire for success unexpectedly leads us to a dead end. At such moments, we begin to look back and suddenly realize that we have devoted too much effort to masking our shortcomings, or to developing qualities that play practically no role in our development.

If you don’t know exactly what qualities you should “build up” to achieve greater results in life, then take a closer look at the following list.

1. Hunger for growth

A quality that is common to almost all successful people. Life around us is changing very quickly, and if we want to keep up with progress, we must be able to quickly adapt to changes. The easiest way to do this is if you sincerely love to learn and believe that many people and things around you can teach you a lot.;

If a person for any reason loses motivation for his own development, sooner or later he begins to lose existing skills, as a result of which his success decreases. Those who have a constant thirst for growth, are not afraid to try new things, and are sometimes willing to take risks for the sake of development, will always be one step closer to achieving their most cherished goals.

2. Self-confidence

In order to achieve significant success, do your job well and get recognition, you simply need to believe that you are the best. We are talking here not about narcissism and deliberate distortion of facts for the sake of artificially raising self-esteem, but about sincere confidence in one’s own abilities and strengths.;

It doesn’t matter at all how realistic your wildest dreams are and whether you will ultimately achieve everything you set out to do in life. However, without faith in your strength, without self-esteem and the ability to keep your face, you risk giving up much earlier than you just reach the finish line. There's no point in playing a big game if you don't think you have any chance of winning. Focus on your strongest qualities, talents and skills you have already acquired and think about how you can multiply them and use them to suit your plans.

3. Courage

A successful person must be brave. Sometimes this is the only opportunity to truly gain faith in yourself. Of course, you will often be plagued by fears and doubts, and sometimes you will have to pay attention to them and make extra efforts to achieve success. But just because you are afraid to do something does not mean at all that you should abandon your plan once and for all.

Sometimes feeling anxious is a signal that you haven't done enough preparatory work and have something to think about. But more often than not, it’s just a feeling that accompanies you because you’re doing something unusual and exciting to you.;

By doing what you are most afraid to do and carefully examining the most successful cases from your experience, you will eventually learn to be firm and demonstrate genuine courage in previously seemingly impossible situations.

4. Ability to communicate

All successful people put a significant amount of effort and spend most of their time on relationships with other people because they know how important communication is in all areas of life. A person who knows how to get along well with people, builds and maintains healthy relationships, will always carry out his plans much easier than people who prefer to work alone and hone purely professional skills.;

The ability to work with people contributes to your personal growth, allows you to prove yourself as a leader, and gives you more opportunities for realization. If you know how to present yourself well, it is easier for you to achieve fame and recognition. And maintaining strong relationships with helpful people is a direct path to achieving success in life.;

5. Enthusiasm

It is naive to sit still and believe that rare opportunities will find you and knock on your door. The more often you take the initiative, the more active you are, the higher your chances of getting the best from life and not missing out on a unique chance.;

You must be willing to take on more responsibility than those around you, work harder than you think is necessary, and offer your services more often than you are used to. Gain a reputation as an active and enthusiastic person and before you know it, life will take you on extraordinary adventures where you can gain a lot of experience and pleasant impressions, as well as additional opportunities for growth.

Nine simple habits that will allow you to attract incredible success.

1. See every obstacle as an opportunity to learn a lesson.

Most people view obstacles as failures that block the path to development. They face problems, give up and retreat.

The most successful people in the world attract this very success by using obstacles as unique advantages. They turn any obstacles into lessons for growth.

Here's how Elif Batuman describes it in The New Yorker magazine: “When difficulties come your way, you should be proud and rejoice, as if you were a fighter whom God himself had put in sparring with a young and strong opponent.”

People perceive problems in a negative light; at best, they accept them resignedly. Few people see obstacles for what they truly are - powerful fuel that fuels your skills and allows you to become better.

The more difficult the problem, the sweeter the victory. The bigger the obstacle, the more you will learn.

Writer Grant Cardon says, “One of the main differences between successful people and unsuccessful people is that the former look for problems, while the latter do everything to avoid them.”

2. Learn the skills you thought you'd never master.

Most people don't know how to self-publish an e-book, start a blog, create a podcast or your own online course, or how to wake up at five in the morning regularly.

I also didn’t believe that I would learn any of the above. But I mastered these skills and became a better version of myself.

I am a certified specialist, I have been writing and creating content for five years. “I’m just a writer,” I told myself. “I’m not involved in technical issues or business.”

However, after a week of maddening communication with technical support, I recoded the site myself and created my first online course from scratch. It was like being a total car noob and having to change a transmission yourself for the first time.

Most people greatly underestimate themselves. Some are even proud of their own limitations: “Oh, I have no idea how to write a book” or “I don’t know how to start my own business. I'll make a terrible entrepreneur."

But the fact is that what you tell yourself becomes true.

Just learn something new. This will expand your sphere of influence, connect with experts from different industries, and most importantly, build confidence in yourself.

Learning skills you thought you'd never learn will break down the self-doubt and fear that's holding you back from moving forward.

3. Do what no one else wants to do

Author Col Newport, in his book Deep Work, suggests that those in demand will be those who are capable of long-term and focused engagement at work: “The ability to engage deeply with work is becoming an incredibly rare and at the same time valuable quality in the modern economy. As a result, those few who have this skill and who make it the basis of their work will succeed.”

Newport points out that most people don't know how to produce high-quality results with focused work.

If you are able to set strong internal boundaries and devote yourself fully to completing tasks, you will prosper.

4. Be prepared for any opportunity

"Opportunity is a haughty goddess who wastes no time on those who have not prepared," says author George Samuel Clason.

Most people are too arrogant to learn new things - they think there's no point in learning how to code or learning new online tools that others seem to have to use for them.

But in the modern world, success does not come to the smartest or luckiest, it comes to the most thirsty.

Prepare yourself. Spend time learning and creating rather than having fun. Opportunities that can change your life will arise, and you must be ready to take them when no one else is ready.

5. Fail more than anyone else

Success comes to those who:

• Consistent in an impatient world.
• Loyal in a fickle world.
• Focused in a distracted world.

When you fail, you learn. When you fail more than others, you learn more than others. This lesson will help you keep going.

When I first started blogging, I did everything wrong. I was self-indulgent, my notes were long, boring and self-indulgent. It's no wonder that four years later I only had 200 subscribers. 400 articles and 60 months later, I have learned the right lessons. My success is the fruit of many failures. Now I know what works and what doesn't.

Another writer, Jim Rohn, said: “Success is not magic or mysticism. And a natural consequence of the consistent application of basic principles."

Many people are afraid of failure because their self-esteem depends on results. And they perceive every failure as confirmation that they are not good enough.

But self-esteem should not depend on failure. Failure is just an opportunity to learn, grow and acquire new skills.

6. Act like a world-class winner, even if you are not one.

Most people don't live up to their potential. But success comes to those who believe in themselves and who have incredible willpower to achieve their goals.

Every day I wake up and tell myself that I am a great writer. That every article I write will be read by thousands of people, that my words will change them, that I will help them become incredible.

At first, my writing just wasn't good enough. But writing each text with faith in its power is a very powerful tool.

Whenever I go astray, write something too narcissistic or unclear, my brain says, “Hey, thousands of people will read this text, so cut out all this nonsense. This is not what good writing looks like.”

7. Be Honest, Vulnerable, and Real

I am fascinated by texts and videos in which the soul of the author is visible. I love hearing stories of vulnerability, stories of people overcoming the worst possible circumstances.

If you are honest about your struggles and your failures, it will resonate. You will gain attention.

Success will be inevitable.

So I decided to be honest about my pornography addiction, my time in the 12-step addiction recovery program, and how bad I felt for the 15 years I lived with the addiction.

People write to me all the time with their own stories in response to my honesty. I built a connection on trust. I'm not some tough guy or Tesla inventor, I'm an ordinary guy who has been struggling with a serious problem for a long time.

My friend Tim Danning once said, “If you're not yourself, it will destroy you.”

Stop living other people's lives. Be honest and vulnerable - that's what everyone craves.

8. Strive to give rather than take

People take what they can get. Money, opportunities, the last piece of the pie - no one is in a hurry to give away what they may have.

When I was little, my mother told me: “If you hold money in your fist, you won’t lose it, but you won’t be able to get more either.”

An open hand - with money, connections, information or knowledge - can make you feel like you're giving away everything that's most valuable to you. At least that's how I often feel.

But when you give, you attract people. Those who do not expect anything in return are rare today. However, finding such a person is like breathing in a breath of fresh air.

9. Listen to others

Author Frank Crane once said, “The secret of being a good communicator is a genuine and unselfish interest in others. And also in practice.”

After graduating, I conducted 30 informational interviews. I connected with someone I was interested in on LinkedIn and invited him to coffee. These were high-flying people like directors and business founders.

About 90% of them accepted my invitations. And I was surprised to learn how rarely someone like me approached them with such a proposal.

It was then that I realized that I needed to be silent and listen. Few people are willing to learn from those who have achieved success.

Many people are confident that they know everything, but cannot understand why opportunities, luck and success pass them by. Try to become a student first, and success will find you.

Bonus. Be more consistent than anyone else

Every day you keep going, others give up. Sometimes success comes in the end - to those who didn't give up when everyone else did.

“Success is nothing more than a long-term investment of time,” said Nicholas Cole.

In conclusion, I will say that success is difficult. It requires dedication, stubborn work on oneself. Change is difficult. If you haven't achieved success, it seems impossible to you.

But don't let yourself lose faith. No one can follow all these rules all the time. As they say in 12-step program meetings, the goal is progress, not perfection.

Do what you can. And soon you will be surprised to discover that success has found you.

Incredible Facts

It’s worth mentioning right away that this article is about how to achieve better results in sports training.

So, if you decide to overcome your laziness, bad habits and other circumstances that prevent you from achieving success, then this article is for you.

Motivation for success

Kayla Itsines, an Australian blogger and developer of her own system of exercises for an ideal body, believes that no less important than diet and sports training is a person’s motivation on the path to a beautiful body.

We all sometimes need words of support and encouragement on our way to our goals. Sometimes motivation for success can be a simple but powerful phrase that will immediately encourage you not to give up, no matter how hard it is for you now.

Sometimes you may feel like you are not moving forward as quickly as you would like. Then you need to remind yourself that you are doing everything possible and in your power.

To help motivate yourself, Kayla suggests exploring some of her favorite quotes to inspire you to keep going and achieve great results.

And although the following phrases relate to sports, they can also be applied to any life situation.

Motivational Phrases

I'm proud of myself and my progress

When you start doing something, it is very important to focus on how far you have come and what successes you have already achieved.

In sports, many people often focus their attention on how many kilograms still need to be lost, how much training is to be done this week, etc.

The problem is that we often don't notice what we've already achieved. We forget a simple thing: we should always be proud of ourselves and praise ourselves even for the most insignificant achievements.

Take a few minutes a day to celebrate your successes. Be proud of yourself and encourage yourself! This approach to life will put you in a good mood and promote positive thinking.

After all, small changes lead to big results!

The distance between where I am now and the ultimate goal of where I want to be is shorter than I think!

If you need motivation to move you and keep you on your toes, say this phrase to yourself the next time you exercise.

When you're working towards a goal, sometimes all you need is to see every single step you take.

But sometimes analyzing every step is very difficult, it can be overwhelming. So instead of thinking about how many steps you need to take, start looking just two steps ahead.

This will be quite enough. Don't try to cover the entire journey you have to take.

The gap from where you are now to this step is much smaller than you think - so focus on completing this second step.

Once you achieve it, focus on completing the next step without looking too far ahead. When you break your goals down into small steps, the distance to getting there doesn't seem so far.

The so-called art of small steps will help you get closer to your long-term goals.

Believe me, change comes faster than you think!

My body will not move there unless my mind pushes it!

Your mind has such powerful powers that you never even knew about. When you make the decision to do something and step out of your comfort zone—whether it's trying a new training style or attempting a diving jump—you open up new possibilities in your thinking.

It is the mind that really pushes your body into action!

This motivational phrase helps you keep going when you feel like giving up, and it will also help motivate you to get out of your comfort zone!

Working out is a blessing, not hard work.

Surely all those who train hard at some point gave up and began to complain about the difficulties that arose.

However, Kayla advises remembering how lucky we are in this life: we can improve our bodies and work to improve our health. After all, unlike some people, we have been given such a wonderful opportunity, which it is simply a sin not to take advantage of.

Exercise shouldn't be a burden. When you enjoy what you do, it becomes much easier to make exercise part of your daily routine.

Motivation for the goal

I get what I work for

Unfortunately, “I want” alone is not enough.

You need to remember that desire does not bring you closer to your goals. When you work hard for what you want, that's when the power to achieve real goals comes in!

For example, if you want to reduce your weight, it is important to start eating right and exercising regularly and hard. If you want to achieve something, start doing it right now, and do it exclusively for yourself!

Only after the hardest climb do the best views open up

Surely each of us is familiar with the moments when, while jogging or doing exercises (or any workout), we leave the race to rest “at least a couple of minutes.”

The next time this happens, remember the quote that the most difficult climbs come with the most beautiful views. Moreover, the phrase is true, both literally and figuratively.

So even when it's difficult for you, don't give up. If, for example, you want to finish your run ahead of time, simply switch to the so-called “economy mode”. Don't give up jogging, but just take a leisurely walk.

Think about how good you'll feel mentally and physically when you finish your workout, knowing that no matter what, you didn't give up or give in to weakness. It feels like another small victory in a series of big and important victories.

Remember, victory over yourself and your own weaknesses is the strongest victory you can have.

I am a priority (nothing is more important than my health)

Many of us are accustomed to pushing ourselves and our needs into the background.

We worry about work, boss, friends, family, partners, colleagues, pets - and the list goes on.

But some psychologists correctly advise being more selfish than we are. And in this case, so to speak, we are talking about healthy and correct egoism.

According to Kayla Itsines, you shouldn’t immediately take the advice to become more selfish with hostility. Each of us must come to the point of making our health and wellness our number one goal. These are the things that should be a priority for every normal person.

You must take care of yourself. Remember, except ourselves, no one will do this for us. Regular exercise has many benefits for your physical and mental health - so consistency is what really matters!

If you wake up in the morning feeling low and reluctant to do anything, just turn to these seven motivational phrases.

Repeating them can help you develop a more determined mindset, helping you on your path to success.

Provocative ideas can be cruel, but at the same time very sobering. Tips to help you get things done and change your life for the better. You definitely need...

Dan Waldschmidt is a successful entrepreneur, owner of the consulting company Waldschmidt Partners International, business strategist, marketer, renowned speaker and popular blogger. His blog is one of the best resources on sales according to Dow Jones. Dan's ideas are provocative, but at the same time very sobering, they help you get things done and change your life for the better.

19 hard “musts” that will lead you to success

You definitely need...

You need to make the call you're afraid to make.

You have to get up earlier than you want.

You need to give more than you receive in return.

You need to care about others more than they care about you.

You have to fight, even when you are bleeding and covered in wounds.

You have to take risks when it seems better to play it safe.

You need to lead when no one is following you yet.

You need to invest in yourself, even if no one else does.

You need to look like a fool when you are looking for answers to your questions.

You need to hone in on the details when it's easier to brush them aside.

You need to achieve results when you can find excuses.

You need to find your own explanations, even when you agree with the arguments of others.

You have to make mistakes and look like an idiot.

You have to try, make mistakes and try again.

You need to run faster, even if it’s already difficult to breathe.

You need to be kind even to someone who has been cruel to you.

You have to meet deadlines that seem unreasonable and achieve results that no one has ever achieved before.

You need to take responsibility for your actions, even when things go wrong.

You need to continue moving in the chosen direction, not paying attention to the obstacles ahead.

You have to deal with difficult things. These are things that others avoid. Things that scare you. Things that make you wonder how long you will have the strength to continue them. This is what defines who you are. What separates the life of mediocrity from the life of an extremely successful person. Tough things are easiest to avoid. The excuses why this is not suitable for you come naturally.

How do ordinary people achieve amazing success? The simple explanation is that they take on difficult tasks that smarter, richer, more qualified people lack the courage or recklessness to do. Seize difficult actions. You will be surprised how amazing of a person you are.

Where she explains why it is important not only to work hard, but also to choose wisely what to work on. In the story, Abel gives examples from her life - for example, she says that she spent six years drawing a graphic novel, believing that it would improve her financial situation, and it turned out to be a mistake.

The main idea of ​​the article is that goals should be larger than individual projects, even if the projects are very large. You need to see the whole picture and know where to move. At the end of the article, Jessica suggests answering questions and creating long-term goals.

Goals big and small

That time has come again. Everyone around is setting goals for next year, promising themselves that this time everything will be different. I'm not an exception. I spend a lot of time on these thoughts. Because like you, I too have screwed up in the past.

Jessica Abel

When I didn't achieve my goals, I only blamed myself. I thought, “I’m not working hard enough,” and started working harder. Everyone around says that the main secret of creative success is “sit down and do it.” And tie yourself to the chair. I used to believe this and even wrote articles about the fact that you need to think less and do more.

But in reality, the secret to creative success is to define what “success” is. For yourself.

You can work like a cart horse and still feel that you are not one step closer to your goal. Because it’s not enough to just plow through. We need to get down to business.

And the main task is to understand where exactly it is worth spending energy and time. To do this, imagine yourself in the future and answer two questions:

What do you want to be in the future?

Is what you are doing now getting you closer to that goal?

A friend of mine recently told me that I’m “kind of turning into a guru” of creative productivity (he said it kindly). And while I really want to help creative people, I don't want to be a guru. Because then I would have to die of shame for what I would write next.

The truth is that of all my articles on creativity and productivity, this is the only one where I finally write the whole truth about myself. The main problems that prevent me from living are a lack of understanding of who I want to become and the lack of an action plan.

Want examples? Please.

I have no problem completing projects. I learned this a long time ago and have been doing an excellent job with it for the last ten years.

Finishing work is not a problem. The problem is to understand what to take on.

I can easily remember five times when I devoted myself entirely to a project (and successfully brought it to completion), but it turned out to be the wrong project. I forced myself to go where I didn’t need to go.

Two years ago I spent a lot of time drawing GIF animations for a trailer to promote the French edition of my book Trish Trash. I thought it would help promote the book in France, a country where there is no tradition of book trailers at all. I didn't have any strategy for distributing it. Apparently, I thought that when the publisher saw the trailer, they would do something with it.

Didn't.

In fact, no one has seen this trailer at all. You can watch it now on my blog or on YouTube(by the way, I didn’t choose the music). 139 views. Hmm...

I love this video. But for my goal - to get the book noticed and bought - it turned out to be useless. I wasted a lot of time and effort. I drew him instead of enjoying my vacation. This is just stupid.

Life goals are always more important than individual projects (even very large projects).

That's why amazing projects sometimes don't live up to our expectations. We throw all our energy into finishing a project and forget to ask ourselves: For what We actually need to finish it. What is it for? What life goal do we want to achieve with its help?

When a big and long project comes to an end, we feel proud and happy. We hope that completing the work will lead to some important change in life (money, fame, attention, opportunity, love, whatever). But this does not happen and we are left disappointed and puzzled. I've been through this more than once.

Usually after this we dive into the next project (at least that's what I did) because at that moment all we can think about is that we need to keep working, work harder and harder and hope that one day the fruits of our hard work will be noticed .

I'm not telling you to quit a job that doesn't make a lot of money. I truly want you to do what you love. But I encourage you to set big goals and evaluate each project in terms of whether it gets you closer to those goals.

How to set goals correctly?

Creative people tend to dream of grandiose projects, but avoid starting them for fear of screwing up. The only way to combat this phenomenon is to stop thinking and start doing. I came up with a simple exercise - a questionnaire that helps me understand what exactly needs to be done, what to spend time and energy on. The essence of the task was that the correct solution is already is in the list of answers.

But this exercise is useless without big life goals. If you don't know why you're doing creative work, you can't know whether the path you choose will lead you to fulfillment and satisfaction. So what if not?

What role should creative work play in your life?

Is it vital for you?

Do you want to make a living from it?

Should it lead you to your goal? And to which one?

And more specific questions:

Do you want to draw comics?

Or do you want more people to read your comics?

• Or do you want to make a living drawing comics?
• Do you want to gain deeper knowledge in your specialty?
• Or do you want to get a job in the faculty?
• Do you want to create a podcast?
• Or do you want to become a professional podcaster?
• Do you want to write every day?
• Or do you want to have many loyal readers?
• Or do you want to meet other writers?
• Or do you want to work as a writer?
• Do you want to draw and have others admire your work?
• Or do you want to quit your job to devote yourself to painting?

I want to emphasize that none of these options is wrong or unimportant. And yet they are completely different. Let me give you an example.

If you want to make a living from comics, of course you will draw them, but not as much as you might think. You will have to do a lot more business: winning an audience, doing marketing and selling your work.

If you want a lot of people to read your comics, but you don't care how much you earn, you will connect with your audience completely differently and make different decisions about publishing your work. Perhaps over time you will start making a living from it. But this may not happen because you will not be focused on profit.

When your goal is to quit your day job to paint, it's not enough to just practice every day. Working hard will not solve your problem.

More often than not, working hard (and doing well) is the price you have to pay to to come in into the creative world. But further hard work does not lead to dizzying results.

The key to achieving your goals is having a vision for your future success. You must present it in every detail, and then use it as an action plan. To help you (and myself) with this, I created another questionnaire.

Imagine yourself in 5 years. You've completed 5 big projects that define the nature of your creativity (whatever that means) and a few small ones. What are you doing now:

Who are your colleagues and associates? What personal and professional qualities do they have? Can you name specific people you admire and would like to have as colleagues?

• In what area do you see yourself and in what status? Who are you - amateur, specialist, professional, the best in your field? What conferences and professional events do you attend and in what capacity? Have you won any awards or titles?
• What kind of relationship have you built with your audience? Do you have a lot of fans or are you known only in certain circles? Or do you only have a few select clients? What do they think of your work? What role do your works play in their lives?
• How much income do you receive from your creative activities, if at all? It's your job? Is this your main profession or is it just part of something larger? What else is your reward? Confession? Free time? The pure pleasure of creativity?
• How do you spend your day? What does your workspace or studio look like? Do you work all day or just a few hours? With or without a team? Are you hired by someone or are you? How often do you have to travel somewhere for work? How many administrative responsibilities do you have as opposed to creative work?
• How do you feel five years from now? Are you satisfied with yourself?

Imagine yourself in the future in as much detail as you can. Define specific criteria for your success. Now ask yourself: how does what you are doing now (and plan to do in the new year) bring you closer to achieving your goal?