Being successful means you are able to achieve personal goals, as well as goals that are set by the community. Sometimes these goals are aligned, whereas sometimes these goals contradict each other. However, each and every one is capable is distinguishing whether someone is less successful or more successful. This is the difference between a small business and big business, or between fast and slow business expansion. It occurs due to a variation in leadership, and the mindsets of employees.
Someone who is not ambitions may not be bothered with the fact that he or she is less successful, and that person might just be working on other personal goals. Perhaps someone nurtures modesty as a primary virtue. However, the definition of successful person that I’ll use in this article is someone who manages to climb high on the social leader, who has a reputable career, and who still works on perfecting his or her business model.
It is not implied that these people are guided by avarice, quite the contrary, successful people can be extremely generous. These are people who thrive on being successful, being the at the very top of their niche, and simply being among the best at what they do. So, here are some traits that set apart common employees and employers from true professionals.
Less successful people do their job, successful people improve their performance
We all love to leave an impression of a diligent worker, someone who acknowledges and respects the authority of higher-ups. The problem arises when we continue to behave like an eager cadet for a prolonged period of time. Sure, you will develop a routine and increase your performance as you go along, but that is not what improving performance is all about. You need to display additional interest, speak your mind during business meetings, and give ideas on how to improve the overall performance of the firm. A company is more likely to succeed, and you are more likely to advance in the ranks, if you are fully invested and share the same vision as your employer.
Clearly, your life should not solely revolve around business, but if you put in the extra work during weekends, and if you stay an hour longer every now and then, there will be positive results. You’ll give the company’s engine a kick start surge required for lift off. Of course, this is not universal advice – in some lines of work you may not benefit from over-productivity (manufacturing goods for example), but if you are, let’s say a salesmen, and everyone manages to sell an extra product, you will only reap the fruits of your labour.
Less successful people are discouraged by failure, successful people treat it as a lesson
Truth be told, failure is never a comfortable experience. You invest both efforts and resources and despite your hard work, everything is made null and void. It happens – you might have had a good idea, or were inspired by a good idea, yet somewhere along the line the entire project went south. Well, for starters, if something inspires you do not try to mimic it completely, try to improve the model, but make sure the product is, at its core, your own unique take on a concept. The best example is DC and Marvel comics – even though Marvel mimicked some concepts from DC, the characters are fundamentally different when it comes to perspectives and background stories, so you can’t really call them a rip off.
Back to the topic at hand, when you fail, never abandon an idea completely, especially if someone already managed to tap into its prolific potential. Closely scrutinize your situation, isolate the mistakes, retrace your steps, and avoid making the same mistakes in the future. If you are looking for something that will be successful on a first attempt you are looking for a miracle. Additionally, if you feel something is not working out, shut it down on time, and start over again, it’s the best way to hasten the success curve.
Less successful people work hard, successful people take some time off to attain clarity
This may sound contradictory to the suggestions given previously, but if your hard works yields little positive results, maybe you are not going in the right direction. You cannot re-examine the steps adequately if you are constantly focused on your work. This is why you need to take some time off, and even if you are not constantly thinking about your work, a solution may appear to you out of the blue. This is not a miracle, it’s how our brains work.
When we face a dead end while trying to find a solution to a particular problem, the best thing to do is focus on something else. It gives our brains time to engage the subconscious to work on the problem. Think about it, how many times did you have trouble remembering something, regardless of how hard you tried, yet simply after doing something completely unrelated, the answer dawned on you. The truth is that if you are too eager to find the answer, the likelihood of that happening actually decreases.
Less successful people only make a website, whereas successful people invest in quality design and development
Websites have become one of the main business assets, and you cannot find successful companies without a well-designed website. A well-designed website means it is optimized for all platforms: PC, smartphones and tablets. It means the aesthetics and pages are perfectly arranged, and it has a natural call to action. Such a website should have high responsiveness, and visitors can intuitively find what they are after. You will also need insightful content, in order to generate relevant leads. So, more or less, this is a definition of well-designed website.
Never view success and a well-designed website like the chicken and egg paradox. The website must come first, in order for people to take you seriously and view you as a professional. Poorly designed websites are pushed far back in the search results, and Google made sure of that. There is no easy way or a scam you can pull to become successful. As a society, we must all learn to appreciate and deliver quality work and products.
A great number of business owners simply make a website just for the sake of having one, and try to get a deal that is as budget-friendly as possible. Clearly, it is a not the way to go. You do not need to spend a fortune for a website to fulfill all the above mentioned criteria. WordPress is the most user-friendly platform out there, and you can have a quality website that is easy to maintain. As you progress you can create a better one, using Joomla or Drupal.
Less successful people wait for the opportunity, successful people make their own opportunities
It is a mistake to wait for a moment to shine, or to wait for higher-ups to notice you. You need to be on the lookout for opportunities, but never allow that to be your plan A. You have no idea just how many things you can do and have solid earnings, only if you are determined enough. When you are unemployed don’t wait, look for jobs online. There are platforms like, e-lance and upwork. You can earn a small profit from iWriter, but it is an opportunity to hone your skills. Doing online surveys is another way to make profit. Sure, these are not jobs that scream success, but you need to be resourceful, and show the ability to work around the problem, not just passively wait for a solution to fall on your lap. Every single company and self-made business owner started small, therefore, you should not be bothered by your humble beginnings – it’s way better than feeling helpless.
Less successful people recoil from criticism, successful people welcome it
As a provider, you do not need to pamper every specific need of your consumer, but if you receive a similar complaint from number of consumers, then you’d better listen. Even if you are a sole provider without competition in your area, you should work on improving your products and services. By no means are you to become cocky and allow the complaints to fall on deaf ears. Because they rarely do – someone can easily use your product, and work on the requested improvements. Not only will you then have competition, you will have a big problem on your hands.
Truly successful people take great pride in their work, and strive to deliver the best user experience possible, constructive criticism is just another tool that helps them achieve their goal. This can be perfectly combined with the aforementioned website design features. Create a forum section for users to exchange experiences, and for you to interact with them. Be open to suggestions and discuss your service, and you will be able to improve your product and create a strong bond with consumers.
You should not try to ignore them, nor should they try to extort you, a healthy producer-consumer relationship can exist only if you want to help each other. Work on that bond, it is essential for a successful career.
Less successful people stay within the comfort zone, successful people take on new challenges
Everyone has an ideal job and workplace in their mind, but these rarely become reality, and when they do, it may not turn out the way you expected. However, it is reasonable thinking – why try doing something you have no idea how to do, when you can do a perfectly fine job operating on familiar terrain.
However, in order to be successful, you need to expand your horizons, and become a person of many talents. To be a reliable worker who can advance, you need to rely on versatility, and be able to step in for someone who is prevented from doing their job. It’s how you show that you can keep the company going, it’s how you become irreplaceable.
We live in the age of internet, information has never been more accessible, and whenever you find yourself puzzled by a problem, you can usually find a solution online. Anything you wondered how to do or fix, there is probably a tutorial text or video for it. In other words, you have everything you need to work on yourself and broaden your skill set. This is also a good way to test your own competence – if you are confident you know how to do something, create a tutorial and see if you can efficiently transfer your knowledge.
Do not back off from new challenges and from the possibility to put more expertise on your CV. Do not rely on others to solve your problems if you can do it yourself. Learning new skills can never be a bad thing or a waste of time, it can only enhance your overall performance.
