September 4, 2013
5 Stellar Success Principles: High Achievers Share Real-Life Words of Wisdom
Over the years, I‘ve focused much of my personal and professional time on studying career success. Particularly, I’m quite fond of learning more about highly successful people and high performers. Consequently, I’ve made a conscious effort to develop a network that’s comprised of extraordinarily successful people. During my personal conversations with highly successful professionals such as Les Brown, John C. Maxwell, George Fraser, Farrah Gray, and Wayne Dyer, Ph.D., I typically ask them for their top success principles. So from speaking with such esteemed trailblazers, I’ve learned the secrets to achieving high levels of career success as I’ve highlighted in one of my previous posts.
The following five success principles will help you to properly manage your success and prevent you from landing on the “one-hit wonder†list of exemplary leaders as you continue to grow and cultivate a professional reputation:
Les Brown (celebrity motivational speaker):
Be hungry for success.
You must possess an inherent drive for achieving extraordinary success because there will be some internal hurdles along the way that you will have to overcome throughout your career. Having a “nothing’s going to stop me†mentality can help you fuel your success with as positive mind as you jump over these hurdles. More likely than not, you will also encounter many external reasons, excuses, and circumstances as to why you should quit. But you will never reach the true peak of your success if you give up. In the words of Brown, “you’ve got to be hungry” in order to keep your success going throughout your entire career.
John C. Maxwell, Author, Speaker and Pastor
Accountability for both successes and failures.
It’s not a big surprise that individuals who work hard to become great leaders typically experience more success than the average person. So if you want to become successful, focus your attention on developing your leadership skills, traits, and behaviors. But more importantly, in Maxwell’s teachings he fully emphasizes the importance of leaders accepting accountability for their wins and losses alike. You should learn from your good and bad experiences with success so you can keep climbing the ladder to higher heights. If not, it’s a good chance that you might become stuck at some point in your career field if you don’t keep yourself accountable for your professional growth.
George Fraser, Chairman & CEO, FraserNet, Master Networker
Stay connected to your network.
Staying connected to your mentors and other professionals is very important for your career as you pursue and achieve success. Don’t disappear and begin “acting brand new†towards people after you reach success (especially if they played a part in your success). You should make a conscious effort to build these relationships and support other peoples’ initiatives and celebrate their successes too so you can remain plugged into your network. Fraser regularly says that you must “connect the dots†with people if you want to do anything big because you won’t be able to make it big alone.
Farrah Gray, Self-Made Millionaire, Author, Speaker
Never rest on your laurels.
After working hard for many months (and often years) to succeed at a career goal, many people become comfortable and fall into the trap of thinking “they’ve made it.†This thought process is a terrible trap because it can prevent you from performing at your maximum level throughout the various phases of your career.  Gray often tells his audiences that “comfort is the enemy of achievement.†You can circumvent this deceptive trap by becoming a lifelong learner in your field by undergoing continuous training and development experiences that will help you stretch yourself.
Wayne Dyer, Ph.D. (Expert Self-Help Author and Speaker):
Demonstrate humility.
Another unfortunate success trap that professionals sometimes fall into is “forgetting where they came from.â€Â This happens in part because career success can cause you to believe that others are inferior to you. However, you will be very lonely at the top if you don’t make it a habit of being a humble professional.  Dyer often reminds people that success isn’t determined by your title or achievements.  Instead, it’s determined by how well you treat others and how well you can keep your ego in check.
Antoine Moss, Ph.D., (@2PositiveTweets) is a nationally recognized resource on internships, early career achievement, leadership and motivation. CEO and founder of CEO Style Consulting L.L.C., Moss empowers professionals and organizations to reach their full potential, and serves as speaker, workshop instructor and consultant. The author of Learn to Intern CEO Style, Moss has been a featured expert on outlets including Fox 8 TV News and George Fraser’s 2011 Power Networking Conference.