Be Your Best….Who and what inspires you?

The characteristics that help define success

Both personal and professional development are crucial in the journey to becoming the best version of yourself. When taking the appropriate steps to finding a new career (or just taking the next step in your current career), it is important to be able to identify your positive personal attributes as well as the skills which you need to further develop in order to succeed. If we look at business, political and media successes globally we can identify key differences in these people that helps to keep them at the top of their game. So what do Oprah, Richard Branson and Bill Gates have in common? According to Richard St John’s groundbreaking book ‘8 To Be Great’ there’s 8 core factors that set life’s winners apart from the crowd. St John conducted over 500 interviews with those that have “made it”.

The 8 outcomes were:

1. Passion (without this why do anything?)
2. Work (they will work for what they want)
3. Focus (they know what they want and don’t lose sight of the end goal)
4. Push (they’re not afraid to push a little harder)
5. Ideas (they have the best ideas AND put them into action)
6. Improve (they know education doesn’t end with graduation and are always keen to improve)
7. Serve (they serve themselves and others graciously)
8. Persistence (the willingness to persist when everything is set against you

Whilst ‘8 To Be Great’ was published 6 years ago, the key principles are timeless, there’s also a wealth of new content out there. To help you #BeYourBest check out recent business literature which can help you to manage your time and skills effectively, as well as finding dedicated business mentors. One we can recommend is ‘The Marshmallow Test’ books by psychologist Walter Mischel. These are based on a series of experiments that were conducted at Stanford University in the late 60s. Children were given the choice between receiving a small reward immediately, or two small rewards if they waited for a period of time. The findings showed those who were able to wait longer for the rewards and master the art of willpower tended to have better life outcomes.

Delayed gratification is a real indicator of your chance of success, in a world of instant gratification and consumer drive culture those who can wait for more desired outcome often have what it takes to succeed in a high profile career. This could be due to the likely qualities of self control, patience, determination and ambition to receive the best that those children possessed. By developing these qualities both personally and professionally, it is highly likely that you too will have the better life outcome.

Amoria Bond helps people to become their best by offering opportunities for personal development, individual goal setting and real investment in both your career and the lifestyle it supports. If you’re working hard you want to reap the rewards of that hard work and see it reflected in the lifestyle you live.