Last week I began summarizing the 9 qualities successful people portray, according to Dr. Henry Cloud’s book 9 Things You Simply Must Do to Success in Love and Life. Today we will be concluding this topic with qualities 6-9.

Successful people . . .

6. Use Their Anger
Many people bottle up anger and dwell on how someone did them wrong. They allow it to fester and infiltrate their attitude in a negative way. Successful people, however, know how to use their anger and disappointment and make something with it. They don’t hate the person, but, rather, hate the act of dishonesty, deception, etc.

Take, for example, the recent Bad Customer Service Experience that I vented about. I used my anger as a means for learning what quality customer service is, and shared that with the blog readers in order to assist them in establishing that quality in their own businesses. Rather than dwell on it (though, mind you, I did write a letter to the owner of the restaurant), I did something with it.

7. Don’t Keep Score
As much as we would all like it to be, life isn’t fair. Successful people realize that. They don’t expect an eye for an eye. When someone treats them badly, they don’t retaliate. Instead they treat that person better than they would have liked to have been treated. And, vice versa. When they treat someone well, successful people don’t make the mistake of expecting to be treated well in return.

8. Are Humble
Humility is a character trait that seems rather hard to come by these days. Someone you might deem successful may not be all that humble. One that comes to my mind is Donald Trump. Humility doesn’t exactly radiate from his being. And he is successful in some respects, but success is not always about monetary gain. The ever popular phrase “pride comes before a fall,” is 100% accurate. No one respects a prideful man, at least not at all like the would a man who is humble. Prideful men/women make the more difficult bosses, co-workers, spouses, you name it. Pride can hinder success in many ways.

Truly successful people give credit where credit is due and will gladly let you know who helped in accomplishing a goal. They take criticism well, knowing that a critics intentions are to help, not to harm or judge. And they learn from their mistakes and build off of them.

9. Realize They Can’t Please Everyone
People pleasers - you know the type. I used to be one myself. The person who will do anything for anybody just to make sure everyone is happy. And, typically, people pleasers get overwhelmed and it turns out that everyone is happy (somewhat at least) except you.

Successful people know their limitations and realize that they can’t please everyone. They can’t do everything, though some tend to believe they can. And, most importantly, they don’t ever sacrifice who they are or what they stand for just to make someone happy. Doing so is never worth it.

Well, there you have it - some high quality character traits that are tell-tale signs of a truly successful person. If you’re looking for success in your own life, and haven’t mastered some of these yet, I recommend that you start trying to make some personal renovations. You’ll be amazed by the change, not only in yourself, but in the world around you.

What Successful People Do - Part 1

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