Five Ways Successful People Are Different From Everyone Else

What is it about successful people that makes them so good at hitting their goals and realizing their visions?

How you answer that question depends greatly on your state of mind at the moment you ask it.

When you feel beaten-up and bad about your own life and career situation, you might say "Most successful people just got lucky! Their parents were already successful or they had advantages I never had."

You might feel that way when you look at people you admire and ask yourself "How could I arrange things to live that kind of life?" but you can't see the path from where you sit to where they are.

The path looks impossible -- or maybe there is no path at all.

That's when fear takes over and you might tell yourself "If I had the luck that person has, I'd be successful too!"

That kind of message seems like consolation when you feel bad, but it does not console you for long. Eventually your soul wakes up and asks again "But why can't I live the life and have the career I want? What is actually in the way?"

We can stay locked in fear for as long as we want. Everyone has spent countless days and nights on Planet Fear and we know how grueling it is.

One lovely day you might wake up and ask "Why shouldn't I reach for my dream? What's the harm in trying?"

That day you'll begin to throw off fearful, defensive thoughts that only add strength to the very flimsy barriers that keep you from being successful yourself.

You'll start to think about your dreams as concrete things you can reach if you want to, although it may take time.

Then you'll ask yourself "What do I need to do differently to be as successful as I aim to be?"

Here are five things that separate successful people from everybody else.

1. They value the dream they hold, rather than focusing on pleasing other people or hitting artificial yardsticks.

2. They focus on the dream and not the obstacles between it and them.

3. They fall down and get back up like breathing because to them, trying and learning and trying again are as natural as breathing. They look forward to falling down, learning from the fall and scrambling back up to fall again.

4. They don't fall asleep on their lives and careers. They keep asking "What is the next thing I need to do?" Their comfort comes from stepping into their own power -- not from settling into a life they didn't choose and deciding they don't deserve more.

5. They get frustrated the way we all do, but they don't view their frustration as a reason to give up. Frustration must be processed somehow -- a long bike ride, a marathon cookie-baking session or in some other way -- but it doesn't change the vision or the prize.

Whatever you want to accomplish and however you want to live, you have only your time and your focus to invest in reaching your goal. You only have those two things to invest, but they are the only ones that matter.

Your to-do list will always be in front of you, mocking you for your inefficiency.

Your to-do list has its place in keeping you sane and organized, but there is also a time to put down the to-do list and dream about what's possible.

You are alive right now -- that's the key!

You have your breath, your hands, your feet, your strong body and mind and your imagination to power you toward something. You only need to figure out what that something is.

Every step you take will be a step in the right direction as long as it teaches you something.

You can take a step toward your vision right now, just by sitting on the couch and thinking about the rest of your life.

You could write about it, or tell a friend about the vision that is taking shape in your mind and heart.

Now is the perfect time to take a step for yourself. What will your first step be?

Source:     Forbes