Success
I spent my commute this morning thinking a little about success, considering the traits that played a big role in aspects of my life that I consider to be successful.
This isn't an exhaustive list, but I think all 5 played important roles in my own life.
But before that, what does success even mean?
Success is personal. I don't let it be defined by others, and it's certainly not a societal standard.
For some, it's a material thing: owning a house, having more money or status.
For others, it's freedom, purpose, health. It's calling your own shots, or living in the way you want for yourself.
However you define it, make sure it's your own and avoid the trap of letting society do it for you.
Whatever success is to you, I consider the following 5 traits especially important in helping make it happen:
1: Resilience
Success won't be without setbacks and adversity. The world can be surprisingly cruel, unforeseeable and unfortunate.
Resilience is how you keep going in the face of that.
PS: I learned my best lessons about resilience in the gym.
2: Indistractibility
This isn't even a word, but you know what I mean. Isn't language wonderful.
The world is distracting. It's full of temptation. You have a lizard brain (sometimes). Fun, or sometimes refined hedonism, will call your name loudly.
Maybe it'll be in the meagre form of a Reel or TikTok, or the u̶n̶c̶o̶n̶s̶u̶m̶i̶n̶g̶ task of correcting a stranger on the internet.
Indistractibility is the skill of the professional.
It's being able to refuse the offers to spend your time in all the immediately rewarding ways. It's your ability to stay laser focused on your goals and vision, regardless how hard the world fights against you.
3: Adaptability
The world of 2024 is immeasurably different to 2014. I suppose this is an apt time to mention that this article is written entirely by human fingers. In 2004, the iPhone was still 3 years away.
Decade by decade, major changes happen that affect how we live, work and even think.
Not being adaptable is like having a car with a steering wheel that doesn't turn.
Adaptability allows us to learn, take on new information, and be able to change course. Adaptability lets you move with the world. Applied well, perhaps even get one step ahead of it.
4: Authenticity
You know what you're better at than everyone else? Being you.
Authenticity creates trust. It lets people see, help, and learn from the real you. It creates stronger relationships.
In the end, it's the input and help of others that a non-trivial degree of your own success will be attributed to.
Side point: being authentically yourself produces confidence – you're literally the best ever at doing it.
5: Consistency
Most over-night successes take 10 years.
And I don't mean 1 year x 10, but the compounding results of year-on-year improvement.
You can't do that inconsistently.
Powered by indistractibility, consistency is the trait that helps you reach compounding. It's via compounding that the world really opens up, if it hasn't already.