What makes some investors or entrepreneurs so successful? What trait do they have that many other investors and entrepreneurs lack?
If you made a list of the common qualities and characteristics shared by the biggest successes, you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they almost all are bold visionaries, they’re rabid goal-setters, and they know how to position, market, and sell.
But there’s one skill that you might not realize they possess, because it’s not a skill that is highly prized in today’s society and it’s something that most people don’t think of as a skill. I’m talking about resiliency.
Resiliency is a two-fold trait:
- Resiliency is your ability to stick to a direct, goal, or target and not waver from it
- Resiliency is also your ability to pick yourself up after a fall, dust yourself off, and get back into the game
Successful people are successful because they display resilience towards a goal, not matter what life throws at them. Resiliency is when all the world is stacked against you but you keep pressing forward anyway, in spite of the obstacles, to achieve your goals.
Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran says that the most successful sales people in any organization are the ones who can handle rejection. That’s resiliency.
Even outside of the business world, resiliency is a respected trait among world-changers like Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and many more. Our nation’s elite soldiers – from Navy SEALs to Army Rangers – are models of resilience. And in the world of business, people like Richard Branson are living proof of resiliency in action. I am too. I’m here today, living the life I’m living, because I’m resilient.
Fortunately, resiliency isn’t handed out to only a select few; it’s a learned trait and you can learn it. And the more resilient you become, the greater your chances of success. Here’s how to develop resiliency in yourself:
- Accept responsibility for where you are in life. If you’re not happy with your current situation, realize that YOU are the one who put yourself there. Stop blaming others and accept total responsibility.
- Challenge yourself to do the most difficult things, especially the things you have been trying to put off. Pick a difficult task and stick with it until complete.
- Try more things. Make more decisions. “Fail often,” as the saying goes.
- Accept all negative outcomes as learning opportunity.
- Raise your “high water level” when it comes to difficulty. Find something you can’t do and learn to master it.
- Embrace challenges and let their hardship inspire you.
In life we’re naturally wired to try and make things easier. And in the long run, there’s nothing wrong with that. But you’ll enjoy the easier times even more when you build resiliency in yourself so you can do the hard things that no one else is willing to do.
