5 Attitudes of Top Performing People

Everybody wants to be successful. Though this is normal however, not everyone wields the requisite attitudes and lifestyles needed for that venture. Success is not an activity but an attitude. All top performing persons I have met possesses these attitudes. Now they didn’t inherit them but learned and mastered them over a period of time. And now these attitudes flow as though they are natural to them. You can also do same to bolster your confidence for success.

#1. They are optimistic in defeat:

It’s easy for one to give up at the sight of obstacles. There are others who give in when the penny drops in their lives and suddenly a journey they had prepared for has become difficult for them. Top performing people look for the good in every situation. Now it doesn’t mean that they don’t fail. They do. In fact, many of them have fallen repeatedly but they fix their gaze on the big picture. They know that it is always there. The good situation is always present in the furnace of your defeat. Keep moving. Confucius said that our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. When one resolve to move on in the face of obstacles, they have only one option -- to disappear.

#2. They have written goals:

A goal is a determined destination. It’s a target for one’s life. It’s what one wants to achieve for him/herself. It’s what gives one a purpose and/or reason to behave the way s/he does or not. The absence of goals creates purposeless life and attitudes. Many people confuse writing with saying. This has become necessary because they’re not aware of the benefits that are designed for those who put their goals to writing. The act of writing your goals in a journal and/or diary helps to impress the idea to your consciousness thereby ensuring for harmony between your attitudes and actions. Top performing people write down their goals every day – before they sleep each night and some in the morning before leaving for work. What do you hope to achieve in one month, two or three months to come? How about a year or two? Commit these things into writing and align the sets of activities necessary to get them done. You might not believe the benefits that would accrue to you when you discipline yourself in this venture.

#3. They are voracious readers:

I always tell my audience that any leader who fails to read will fail to lead. This is simple. Reading opens the doors of great empires to you which traditional education is unfit to do so. It opens you to the judgement, decisions, winning attitudes and tricks of successful people needed in the super highway of success. In the same fashion that a man wakes up to lift metal for the reason of building the muscles of his body, so do the muscles of the brain need daily reading to get them trained and built. Top performing people read a lot every day. Some read 3 to 4 books a week with a daily dose of 50 to 100 pages a day. To build a compelling personal brand you need to practice daily reading. It’s said that if a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. Investing in knowledge will always pay the best interest. Addison said that, ‘Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body’. And when you read act on them. The essence of reading is not to be lulled into fantasy but for one to transform his/her life through the execution of some of the ideas.

#4. They’re risk takers:

The average man has been over concerned with his/her little savings that s/he is afraid of losing the money to the bad economy. She over thinks before purchasing anything to the point of buying compromised goods instead of quality. S/he decries the cost of purchasing quality stuffs. They’re afraid to take risk. What they may not know is that, life in itself is a risk. We all take risk everyday yet we don’t see it that way. Sitting in a commercial vehicle, eating meal outside the home and putting money in the bank are all risks we take each day. Top performing people take risks and do not mind if they lose. They keep the bird’s eye and the worm’s eye view in mind whatever the situation they find themselves.

#5. They are disciplined:

If you implement the above attitudes minus discipline, then you should be ready to fail. Discipline is a key component for achieving success. It’s what gets you to do the things you do even though you feel not to. It’s that determination that gets you out of bed early to be ready for the day’s activities. For one to remain optimistic in the face of daunting challenges requires doses of discipline. And so do the other attitudes. If you’re lacking in this attitude then the rest would not be useful to you. And that means that you will not get to join the top performing people in your field. How sad to know this. If you want to be successful you need to behave and discipline yourself into it. You can’t have the fruits without the key ingredient – discipline. Put your body under control if only you want to be successful.

There you have it. Sieved and condensed for your consumption. When you learn, internalize and practice these attitudes, chances are you would climb to join the peak performers in your industry. According to Les Brown, “to achieve something that you have never achieved before, you must become someone that you have never been before”. This is your chance to behave like a peak performer in your office. Behave your way into success with the right attitudes reserved for the successful.