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The 7 Personal Habits Of Successful People

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The accomplishment of an aim or purpose. The good outcome of an undertaking. The attainment of fame, wealth, or social status. 

These are broad definitions for the concept of success that society has been striving for decades. And the reason why humans have focused on working harder and longer than ever before, encouraged by the belief that by doing so, they will find the happiness and the success they want in their lives.

But positive psychology and quite a lot of scientific studies and research have proven that it is not always the case. And just pursuing achievement in terms of money, power, and fame may not be precisely the way to fill human yearnings. It requires much more. While everything important can be bought or arranged, whatever is crucial to human happiness cannot. And this is why new understandings of success have emerged, focusing on the pursuit of happiness as a quicker, more practical and realistic way to actually achieve success.

But what is happiness after all? And which are the patterns or traits that define our likelihood to become successful? Well. Human beings are all different, but successful people share these seven common habits. Habits developed through a focus on all those things we can not pay with gold but makes us incredibly rich.

1. Have a life mission

Successful people have a positive mission in life. They have invested time in finding and defining this personal mission. They know where they want to go in every single way (not just the professional one) and they realize this is good for themselves and others. This is precisely what makes their search for accomplishment so meaningful and straightforward.

2. Clear means and ends

Successful people have a framed reason to achieve money, power, and fame. They have a direction and a clear way how to use it because they have a defined positive mission in life. They do not confuse it with the end but rather consider it as a means to achieve and realize this mission. They have grown to the realization that what makes them happy is not the achievement of the means but the accomplishment of their final positive defined goals. 

3. Seek new experiences and learning

Expanding our horizons make us happier. And successful people are quite aware of it. As intelligent beings created for good and beauty, we are meant for a constant life of development and enrichment. Living, experiencing, and growing our knowledge about life, the world and all its wonders, work positively on one's personal development. Research from San Francisco State University has proven how people who spent money on experiences rather than material items are simply happier. 

This doesn't just mean traveling the world with a backpack—despite how fashionable it has become. There are many different ways to expand our perspective, depending on our own character and tastes. The only thing to keep in mind is that leaving our comfort zone and acquiring a life long learning approach is the master key to positive accomplishment.

4. Find happiness in the success of others

Successful people do compare themselves with those ones that are better. But they do it from a perspective of admiration and positive emulation. They identify in others skills and talents they lack and they work towards developing these—but not out of competitiveness or jealousy. Successful people are aware of the adverse effects and lack of results derived from enviousness and resentment. They compete exclusively with the best version of themselves. Never with others. They have role models, not rivals. 

5. Empathy

Successful people are incredibly empathetic. They create a world full of friends that help them, admire them, and accompany them. They listen to others and care about others. They know that after all, the road to success is never an isolated one. They are aware they need to rely on others to get where they need to get. Empathy, as the skill allowing us to put ourselves on others shoes and positively connecting with them, is a crucial tool for leadership and ultimate performance.

6. Lifestyle

Successful people do not think in terms of work/life balance. They just think in terms of "life." They know they have only one, and they have committed to living it to the fullest. They design their own lifestyle. They enjoy what they do. They work very hard, but they are not married to their job. They follow a life-flow they can be proud of.

7. Challenge

Successful people do always have something to prove to themselves. They are driven by challenge. They are challenge-makers. Challenge develops mental toughness, stands down fear,  inspires courageous acts, tests the limits, focuses attention, matures perspective, and builds self-confidence. It's through challenges that successful people find opportunities. It's through challenges that successful people set ambitious goals to be achieved. It's through challenges that successful people grow, develop, and flourish.