The Top 5 Traits of Highly Successful People

We all know that feeling when our mind and heart want to do something but the action doesn’t follow—setting your alarm to 5am, when reality is 7am; telling yourself you’re going to work out everyday, when it’s actually once a month or none; committing to start a new venture, only to realize that it’s already been a year and nothing has been put into action; and the list can go on and on. Well, to help revive your old or current goals, we put together a list of the top five traits that all highly successful people exhibit.

Top 5 Traits of Highly Successful People:

1) Visionary

Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks is a big dreamer. As a poor little boy in Brooklyn, New York, Schultz had the dream of opening his own Italian coffeehouse. With a goal of “creating and building an enduring global brand,” Starbucks has truly become what it was set out to be, and you can count on finding one in every city, if not every block.  See the Starbucks Mission Statement for a more detailed vision and the principles they follow.

2) Passionate

Passion is a gift. It’s the fuel that drives you to pursue your dream and helps you overpower the fears that try to get in the way. Passion is not a fleeting emotion but an enduring desire.

3) Diligent

Diligence is having perseverance even when the going gets tough. In Barbara Walter’s interview with Oprah Winfrey regarding her decision to leave the show after 25 years, Oprah says, “[You] can’t call in sick, can’t ever give less than 100 percent, and if you are sick, which I’ve been a couple of times, that’s when you got to pull up to 110, 120 because people have come from all over the world and this is their moment …”

4) Proactive, Not Reactive

Successful people don’t procrastinate or wait for things to happen:

5) Lifelong Learner

They constantly strive to make things better, asking “what’s my next step?” They’re always reading, on the search for new information and ideas, and apply what they learn.

[This article was first published on April 4, 2011]