Table of Contents
Introducing The Many Traits of Successful People
Traits are something that we all possess, they define who we are as people. Because of this, it’s important that we possess the right traits. If you possess many negative traits, then that sticks with you wherever you go and the people around you will notice this. That’ll just mix you up with the wrong crowd and set you down a bad path in life. On the contrary, having good traits will attract the right kind of people and will lead to an overall more satisfying life.
Many people overlook their traits’ importance, and then wonder why they aren’t getting what they want out of life. That’s why I’m here to show you a few of the many traits of successful people. This way you can become a better person.
I don’t currently know how mant traits I’m going to do but since the sections will be shorter, I assume it’ll be a lot.
Now let’s do this.
1. Discipline
When it comes to the traits of successful people, this is probably the most common one and that’s why I’m doing it twice. I already did a section on discipline in my 7 healthy habits post, but it’s just so important that I have to talk about it here too. However, since I have already covered it, I’ll make this brief.
What is Discipline?
I couldn’t think of any better way to describe discipline than how Mike Tyson did on a Joe Rogan podcast of all places:
“Discipline is doing what you hate to do, but doing it like you love it.”
This perfectly describes what discipline is. To achieve success and great things, you’ll have to do many things that you probably won’t feel like doing. Discipline is the act of doing those things anyways, regardless of how you feel. This is the most common trait among successful people because, without discipline, it doesn’t matter how smart you are or how good your ideas as. You won’t get anywhere without discipline.
Remember that everyone encounters moments when they don’t feel like doing the work, literally everyone does. However, it is only the strong and successful who still do the work during this time. Make sure you become one of those people.
Discipline Tips
In the 7 habits post, I went over a few tips you can use to become more disciplined. Here though, I’m going to take a different approach.
While those tips are indeed very useful, how disciplined you become will ultimately be down to how disciplined you’re willing to be. What do I mean by this though? It’s simple, if you wanna be more disciplined, you have to practice being disciplined and you have to be willing to make sacrifices. The more you do it, the better you’ll be at it and you’ll get more used to it.
The best way to do it is to just practice doing it. All sucessful people have been in your shoes at some point and the chose to be disciplined. What will you choose though?
2. Gratefulness
One trait you’ll often find in many successful people is that they’re very grateful people. I’m specifically referring to those who started from the bottom and worked their way up. Those who are already at the top often have the opposite trait, but not always.
People who work their way from the bottom all the way to the top tend to learn how to appreciate life along the way. This is due to several reasons. It could be because these people are putting themselves out there and are seeing more of what the world has to offer which makes them more grateful to be alive. It could also be because successful people often have to make sacrifices, that’s just part of self-improvement. Making sacrifices often makes you appreciate what you still have now more than ever, and that makes you grateful.
No one wants to hang around with someone who is never thankful for anything they have, many successful people understand this. Let’s face it, what joy do you even get out of being a complainer? It makes you a less likable person and it makes you less happy overall.
Tips For Being More Grateful
One of the best things you can do to become more grateful is to do something I constantly tell people to do, and that is to embrace the journey. The main difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is that the successful people focus on the journey and the unsuccessful focus on the goal. By only focusing on the goal, you ignore everything around you and tend to rush things, you also get frustrated easily as well. That isn’t self improvement.
What is self improvement then? I would say it is enjoying every step of the process instead of just fixating yourself on the goal. You should try your very hardest on your self improvement journey, all the while being thankful that you’re even able to go on this amazing journey. Don’t get frustrated by the lack of results either, just focus on being better than you were yesterday and enjoying every second of your journey, that’ll make you a far more grateful and successful person.
My next tip is a habit you can get into doing. Every morning when you wake up, I want you to look out the window and count everything you’re grateful for. Don’t look over anything you have while you do this either. Even being alive is something to count towards, since so many unlucky people have their life ended early, you should be thankful that it hasn’t happened to you. Doing this every day will make you appreciate the smaller things in life. You’ll notice how mre relaxed and stress free you’r becoming when doing this.
I do have a few more tips but they’ll come up in later sectiosns since they’re tied to other traits.
3. A Good Sense of Humor
This one may not apply to all successful people, however, it is a great trait to have. Plus, most people want to be funny (I said ‘most people’ instead of ‘all people’ in case those few weirdos show up with the “wElL aCtUaLlY, nOt AlL pEoPlE”, you know how it is).
What It Means To Be Funny
It’s a known fact that being funny makes you a more likable person. As humans, we are drawn to people that make us feel positive emotions, that’s what our body and mind both want after all. Thus, we naturally wanna be around people who make us laugh. Lots of successful people on platforms like YouTube and Twitch are often funny people and that’s what keeps their audiences entertained, it’s because of the same principles I just described.
Let’s face it though, we want to be liked by people, not necessarily every single person we know but as humans we wanna be more well-liked in general. That’s why so many people wanna be funny because they’ll be more likable people. Plus, if you can make someone laugh then they’ll be more likely to listen to whatever you have to say.
I’m guessing wanting to be funnier may go for you too, which is why I have prepared some tips.
Tips on Being a Funnier Persson
I’m fairly sure I’ve done a section on this in another post but I’ll do another one here for convenience’s sake. Now let’s do this.
Admittedly, being funny does come more naturally to some people than others, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t learn or improve at it. The first thing you need to understand is that everyone has a different sense of humor. You should be wary of this because a joke that went well with one person may not land so well with another. For example, maybe don’t pull out the dark humor jokes at a family reunion, keep those for the PlayStation party. At a family reunion, I would probably go for a joke about alcohol or a legendary family story, something along those lines.
To put it simply, there’s a time and place for every joke.
Understanding when and where to tell a joke is a key part of humor, so it’s important that you’re able to read the room well. You don’t wanna end up making a joke at the wrong time or the wrong place.
Since I’m breaking down my thought process about how I tell jokes, next up comes the tone and delivery. What I tend to do is try and change these 2 aspects based on who I’m talking to. Lots of successful people do this, and not just in humor. If there’s a large group though, I’ll try and use a tone and delivery style that matches the energy of the group.
I’m sure you’re kind of confused though, what do I mean by the delivery and the tone? It’s simple. If I’m talking to a more extroverted and sassy person, I would probably make a direct joke like teasing them or something similar. For an introvert, I would probably make a more subtle joke, like using sarcasm as a response to some comments they may make (bonus tip: sarcasm is also a great way to break the ice with someone you don’t know so well). The better you get to know people, the more you’ll be able to cater to their style of humor.
Now there’s one slight issue, what if no one laughs? I would personally just brush it off and continue the conversation. If my bad joke was obviously meant to be a joke then I would probably make a joking comment about it like “This is awkward,” or something along those lines. However, if it wasn’t an obvious joke then I would continue talking like normal. You’ll have to face the fear of no one laughing to become a funny person. That’s another characteristic of successful people for you, they face their fears head-on (more on that later).
If you wanna become a successful person in general, then you’ll have to go through trial and error. The same goes for humor. The more experience you have telling jokes, the better you’ll be at them. Also, just because I change the way I tell jokes based on the person I’m telling it to doesn’t mean I don’t have my own style.
The best way to be funny is to mix your own style of humor among various types of jokes. This could be being sarcastic with some sass, or if you’re that one guy whose style of humor is just saying the most random things possible, then you can incorporate that everywhere across many jokes like backhanded complients and teasing.
Also note that this entire thought process I detailed happens in a split second once you get used to telling jokes.
Anyways, if you practice making jokes while incorporating these tips, you’ll be on class clown level in no time.
4. Optimism
Optimism is simple at its core, however, a lot of effort goes into being an optimist at first, especially for those who have to overcome pessimism. However, successful people never back down from a challenge, and for something like overcoming pessimism it’s definitely worth the challenge. It’s great for self improvement too.
Have you ever encountered a pessimist? I sure have (especially in the comments section of some of my TikTok posts) and man I feel so bad for them, it’s like looking at someone who has given up all hope. These guys genuinely believe that their life is over and there’s nothing they can do to save it. For most of these guys though, they’re not even 18, their life has barely even started yet. I honestly wish that hese guys could just smile and be hopeful about their life.
I don’t really know where it comes from, but I think that social media may have a role in it. By this I mean that their shortened attention span as well as the type of content that they consume may take away their motivational drives and ambitions which leaves them as a shell of what they once were.
This highlights how important optimism is for you in life. Having a positive view of everything will fill your life with so much joy compared to viewing everything through a negative lens. Being an optimist will naturally make you more grateful as well (there’s one of those other tips I mentioned), and you’ll start to appreciate the smaller things you have. It’s just a great thing to be overall.
Tips For Being More Optimistic
Being an optimist is kinda essential for self improvement, there’s no way you’ll be able to take on all the challenges it brings without it. The main way to be more optimistic is to just practice being more positive, however, I have one useful tip for you.
If you ever find yourself thinking negative thoughts, then I want you to consciously take note of that thought into something positive. This can be something as simple as turning “I can’t do it” into “I can do it”. At first, this will be hard, but as any successful person would say, that’s no reason to give up. Over time, it’ll become second nature to you, and your overall mood will noticeably be better.
The only other tip I can really offer is to never lose hope. No matter how dire your situation is, you should never give up. If you hold hope in your heart and never give up, then things will get better for you.
Always hold hope in your heart.
5. Genuinely Nice
If you are somewhat familiar with the internet, you probably have come across the term “Nice guy” or “White knight“. These sorts of people pose a problem.
Nice Guys and White Knights
These 2 kinds of people are extremely similar. For starters, they seem to hate all things related to self improvement and instead spend their time defending random women on the internet in hopes of a… revealing… reward. A “Nice guy” thinks that she should like him since he has shown common pleasantries with a girl. They’re basically massive simps.
These guys all have one thing in common though, they constantly express how nice they are. They never stop mentioning the fact that they’re so nice. There are 2 main problems with them saying this though.
- Most of us are nice guys too. If the only thing you bring to the table is the fact that you’re nice, then that’s the same as bringing the bare minimum. You won’t be a very successful person in dating or anything as a matter of fact. Successful people never just offer the bare minimum.
- They’re not actually nice. These people only act nice because in their sick minds, they believe that it will get them some action. The second that they get rejected they let their true colors show and start being rude to them for no reason. All because they didn’t get what they wanted.
So yeah, don’t be like these dudes.
Tips For Being Actually Nice
There are no real tips for this, it’s just the bare minimum, you should be nice all the time without expecting anything in return, unlike these guys. The best way to be actually nice is to just be honest and do what you feel is the right thing, that’s all there is to it.
6. Critical Thinking
When a successful person arises, it is rarely a fluke. There is always a well thought out plan of how t reach the top. Behind that plan is a critical thinker.
The Importance of Critical Thinking
If you walk around without really thinking deeply about many things, then life will just kind of pass you by and you may never find meaning in life. This is why Critical thinking is so important. It’s no secret that many successful people are extremely philosophical and think deeply about many things. This translates over into their work and allows them to better understand how business works.
It goes way deeper than this though, critical thinkers tend to understand lots of things work, even people. There’s just so much you miss out on if you turn a blind eye to how some things work. Sure you can survive just fine with an entry level understand of certain tpics, but that isn’t truly living. To live is to make the most out of life and try to understand how the world around us and the people in it function, so we can find meaning in life.
Critical Thinking Tips
To think more critically, it’s important to try and break down everyday tasks and try and understand how they work. This could be anything like figuring out where all the money goes when you buy a product or trying to work out how your phone or laptop functions. Eventually, you’ll start doing this for more and more things until it becomes second nature.
I understand that this isn’t for everyone though, so you can also do the same with people. By trying to understand how others feel or their intentions behind what they say, you’ll become a more critical thinker. You’ll also get really good at reading people which is something successful people are amazing at.
The main way you get good at critical thinking is by trying to understand things on a deeper level. All successful people do it.
7. Emotional Intelligence
Successful people are often easily able to win others over. They have a way with their words and people love to hear them. This is thanks to emotional intelligence.
The Power of Emotional Intelligence
A core part of self improvement is being able to build lifelong friendships and meaningful connections with others. To do that, you need to be able to read the room and understand their feelings. That’s exactly what emotional intelligence is.
Being emotionally intelligent is the ability to understand the meaning behind people’s words and get a good read on people and situations. It’s very useful for understanding people better and spotting details about people that others might miss. This could be any red flags or subtle hints that a person may show.
The ability to read the room is also extremely useful in several circumstances. You’ll be able to know what to say to please people easier which is what successful people do all the time. They’re always reading the room and reflecting that in their words and body language and this allows them to get people on their side easily. Being emotionally intelligent will also allow you to better cater to other people’s needs which will further get them on your side.
However, it’s important that you don’t abuse this. Abusing this ability will turn you into a manipulator. Make sure you always offer value to those on your side instead of doing nothing for them.
Tips To Become Emotionally Intelligent
A core part of emotional intelligence is understanding yourself better, so let’s start there. You should first learn how to understand and manage your own emotions better before you start trying to undertand others better. A few ways you can do this is by practicing mindfulness (more on that later), journaling or other types of meditation. You should also avoid from reacting impulsively to situations and instead give yourself time to process emotions properly.
To understand others better, you’ll need to actually talk to others. So developing your social and communication skills will be key. The best way to practice these skills is to put yourself out there and just talk to people and learn. Make sure you genuinely listen to what they say though. Another thing you should do is pay attention to non-verbal cues as actions always speak louder than words.
Putting yourself out there is a core part of self improvement and successful people do it all the time. They’re constantly meeting new people and improving their understanding of them, so make sure you do the same.
8. Meditation
This has to be one of the most common habits among all kinds of successful people. They all do it. Why is that though?
Benefits of Meditation
Everyone knows meditation is good for you. It helps you to sort through your emotions and enhance your focus. In an era that is full of mental health issues and dopamine-related distractions, doing these 2 things is more valuable than ever. 20 minutes of meditation a day can go a long way, especially if you’re struggling with mental issues.
Meditation can also help to grow other important traits, like emotional intelligence since it helps you understand yourself better. This is especially true if you delve into multiple types of motivation. Engaging in mindfulness will help you to ehance your focus and clear your head, Journaling will help you to get your thoughts down on paper, and breathing excerise scan help you to relax and generate new ideas and sort through your thoughts.
Meditation allows you to make more out of your days and live a more productive life, so make the most of it
Meditation Tips
The tips will vary based on what type of meditation you’re doing. If it’s journaling, well that’s pretty straight forward and so are basic breathing excerises.
Thankfully, mindfulness actually has some useful tips for me to give you. There are a few different techniques you can practice to become mindful. The most common technique is to use the 5 senses to notice everything in your surroundings. Notice what you can see, what you can smell, what you can feel, what you can hear and, if appropriate, what you can taste. This will pull your focus into the present moment more.
Another technique you can use is specifically for taste, it’s called mindful eating. When you’re eatig, pay close attention to the taste and texture of the food you’re eating. Take smaller bites and pay attention to the food more. Admitedly, this is a pretty strange technique and I doubt many successful people do this one. It’s not great for self improvement either but it’s useful for enjoying your food more.
The last tip I have is daily walks. Don’t worry, successful people actually do this one. Make sure you set aside half an hour every day you can to go out on a walk and appreciate the world, it’ll help you become more grateful and to live in the present. It’s great for clearing your mind too and it’s just great to notice how beautiful the world really is.
9. Action Takers
Successful people don’t waste time, they see an opportunity and they grasp it immediately. You need to be like that too.
Do It Today, Not Tomorrow
Everyone always says this, “Oh I’ll do it tomorrow.” They’ll say that until they begin saying “Oh I wish I did it yesterday.” By that point, it’s too late. Procastination is many people’s worst enemy and it drives us into a corner. We put off the things we know we should do and instead waste our lives doing meaningless things. However, when we actually do our work, it isn’t even that bad.
A common tendency we have with procrastination is to play up our homework (I’m using that as the example here for obvious reasons) to be literal torture. It feels like more than just a waste of time, it almost feels daunting at times too. It’s not even that bad when we get around to it. We manage to do it perfectly fine without complaints, then we wish that we did it sooner.
That is what I call the fated cycle of procrastination.
Being an action-taker means breaking the cycle and doing the work as soon as possible. You know how good you’ll feel for doing it, so get to work already.
Tips For Taking Action
Once again, there are no real tips for this sort of thing, you just have to take that leap. You have to challenge your mentality and do the work today instead of tomorrow. It’s a hard fight but it’s one worth winning. It’s a battle you have to win in order to become a successful person.
10. Risk Takers
This has to be the most common one out of all the traits among successful people (for real this time). This will alos be the last one.
The Necesity of Risk Taking
You HAVE to take risks to be successful, there’s no two ways about it. “No risk, no reward,” as the saying goes. If you never take any risks, then you’ll never get anywhere in life. That’s just a fact. Like it or not, achieving your dreams is gonna involve many risks.
Taking risks involves leaving our precious comfort zones. Whether you like it or not, you will have to leave your comfort zone. We love our comfort zones though, and it’s only natural we do. However, no greatness is ever achieved there and we come no close to becoming the best we can be.That’s why I view the comfort zone as a trap.
The best kind of prison is one where inmates don’t even know they’re imprisoned. This perfectly describes the comfort zone. It keeps you trapped as a version of yourself that isn’t the best version of yourself. By staying there, you’ll never become a successful person.
Tips For Risk Taking
Once again, with risk taking you just have to send it. Before you do though, I have one tip for you.
Don’t just send it without assessing the situation. You have to plan first and act accordingly. This is known as taking calculated risks. You should assess the probabilities involved in the risk, as if they’re like crazy impossible then it’s not worth it. Don’t leave out fairly low probabilities though.
Next up, you should make a plan. All successful people have a plan. Make sure it’s flexible too, that way you can change it around if something new comes up. Also, don’t stick to it like glue. Don’t be afraid to make new plans and distance yourself from the original plan. Finally, always expect the unexpected. You never know what crazy stuff waits you in this journey. Whatever it is, it’ll shape you into a successful person if you adapt well
That’s all for me though folks, make sure to always do your best and enjoy life. Adios!
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