5 Traits Every High Achiever Must Have

What is it that sets high achievers apart from the masses? Whether you are talking about financial planning, relationships or running a business… all success leaves clues. The successful share certain traits and if we find those traits, we can become successful too. In this episode, we discuss the 5 traits every high achiever must have and how you can get them.

1. Start with mindset

Your success starts with your mindset. Your mindset helps you stay driven and motivated through the ups and downs. Regardless of the goal, there is a pattern of success you can follow. The difficulty is not knowing what to do as much as it how you get yourself to do it. That is where your mindset comes in.

High achievers do not leave their progress to chance. They create plans that outline how success looks. You want to outline what a successful day, week, month and year look like. Even if you are not naturally well organized, you can find someone who is to help you. High achievers know they are not the best at everything, but they do not allow that to discourage them.

In business, it is common to hire people skilled in ways you are not. Your life is no different. If you are not the best with numbers, hire someone who dreams about numbers. Details are not your thing? No problem. Hire someone who is skilled at noticing the specifics.

2. Become mission driven

When you have a mission and you are driven by it, it helps to bring clarity around the actions you are going to take. Ask yourself, “Does this help me accomplish my goal?” If the answer to your question is yes, you know you are mission focused.

The only way to reach your life goals is to perform smaller tasks on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. You cannot become a professional athlete overnight. Athletes commit years (if not decades) to their craft. They did not wake up one day and say, “I’m going to be a first round pick in next year’s draft”. You and I both know how unreasonable and unlikely such a feat would be.
This is why it is so important to be mission driven. By aligning your life goals with your daily activities, you will always be moving in the right direction.

Set reasonable expectations

Now, I am not saying you cannot sprinkle in some fun from time to time. In fact, fun should be included in your daily plan. Give yourself a break and reward yourself for staying focused. Allow yourself time to check your emails, scroll through social media and watch your favorite show. The key to not giving into temptation is to find a healthy way to indulge without losing your momentum. Instead of watching TV throughout the day, make it an end of day reward. Rather than checking your email every few minutes, give yourself a couple 30 minute blocks each day.

3. Ask lots of questions

Curiosity is important because your success is tied to changing your current habits. This requires you to be curious enough to develop your craft. If you want to be a better speaker, read a book about public speaking. You have a goal to start a business, invest in a mentor or a program to show you the ropes. Curiosity leads to a thirst for knowledge that can never be quenched. High achievers are curious and fascinated by the success of others. There is no reason to learn from your mistakes when you can learn from the mistakes of others.

Increase your awareness

Each time you introduce yourself to new content, it increases your knowledge and awareness. Your knowledge and awareness are tied your wisdom. As you learn more, you increase your understanding around the topic. As you increase your understanding by taking action, it helps you make better decisions in the future.

4. Play to win

The fourth trait you will find among high achievers is they tend to be competitive. Now, were not talking about cheating or the negative aspects of competitiveness, we are talking about the standard to which you hold yourself. When you lose, you don’t accept it as a fact of life. You believe failure is nothing more than a lesson to make you better. Competitive people do not accept the circumstances of their life. If they have to work harder to overcome a deficiency, they are willing to do that.

5. Do what you know

The final trait of a high achiever is they are disciplined. Discipline is the cornerstone to becoming a high achiever. Once you have the knowledge and understanding of what you need to do, you need to take action. Taking action is where most people fall short. They had the motivation in the early going, but their motivation faded. That is why discipline is so important. Discipline is your ability to get yourself to take the actions you need to take everyday. Success is nothing more than the accumulation of small wins over an extended period of time. Conversely, failure is the collection of procrastination and poor decisions made daily.

Final thoughts

High achievers are not born, they are created. If you want to be a high achiever, you need to make it your purpose to add these five traits and habits into your life. Don’t waste another day wondering if you can become something more. Decide to reach for your potential through small disciplined action each day. Until next time, Wisdomites. Remember, wisdom is asking the right questions to allow yourself to get the right answers. Keep asking those questions and you’ll keep getting those answers.

Source:

Forbes: Four Enlightening Facets To Help You Become A High Achiever

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