3 Characteristics Indicate That a Person Has the Potential to Succeed

“What is the best indicator of success?” I came across this query a few days ago on the social question-and-answer website Quora. What are the success indicators we should follow to succeed in life?

Note: This article is taken from the writer Darius Foroux, and he tells us about his definition of success.

You can simply adopt success ingredients and indicators if you know what they are exactly. However, there is one issue, and that is defining what success is, as there are many people who misunderstand this.

In my opinion, a successful person is simply one who achieves their goals. My mother wanted to be a good mother, and my father wanted to own a business. They are both successful in some way because they accomplished their goals.

I wrote a lot about this topic because it still fascinates me, as research shows that ambition and effort are two of the most significant indicators of career success. What about life, though? Avoiding failure is one strategy, but this strategy only considers negative things.

3 Characteristics Indicate That a Person Has the Potential to Succeed

In this article, I share three positive characteristics I've observed in successful people of all types, regardless of how success is defined. They are all undoubtedly obvious, which is precisely why they are significant:

1. Perseverance

My friend and mentor who rented me an apartment 9 years ago and we became friends after that was a successful person on different levels. He has everything he needs, including money, a perfect family, a large home, and hobbies, and almost lacks nothing.

When I once questioned him if he thought he was a successful person, he paused for a moment before responding, “ I am satisfied with my life, so my answer is yes.” I followed up with another question: What do you think was the reason for your success? I can't remember his exact words, but he said something along the lines of: “When you constantly think about the thing you desire and want to achieve, you will succeed no matter what. Go to bed thinking about your main goal in life and wake up thinking about it.”

I think that's right, as most of us pursue the wrong goals. If all you think about is money, you might become very wealthy financially, but you might also pay a high price for it. Therefore, the secret to success is to come up with a big noble goal that you can control. For instance, I am striving to become a better writer and teacher. I want to learn more than I want to get rich.

But learning can also be very challenging, which is why perseverance is crucial. You can't give up on your goals, so keep working toward them until you achieve them. Then, try to set new, more ambitious, and higher goals.

2. Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

No matter how you define success, you can never become successful alone. Since we are all part of an integrated ecosystem, all things, and all people are connected, so think about your goal.

Do you want to start creating your own business? Get a new job? Get fit? Build muscle? Find a partner? Or make new friends?

Everything is related to others. When you think about your appearance and your desire to get fit and build a healthy muscular structure, you seek to look good in others' eyes. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, in my opinion. However, when you when pursue the aforementioned goals to the extreme, they become bad. Both the obsession with appearance and the avaricious pursuit of money is destructive.

How do we achieve balance? It may be achieved through emotional intelligence, but unfortunately, it is not a skill that one can easily learn because you need to look within yourself.  Emotional intelligence means understanding yourself and the people you work with.

3. Humility

An unwillingness to learn is among the most detrimental characteristics in life. I don't think you can be truly successful if you're obstinate, think you know it all, and don't listen to feedback. If you go in this direction, you'll make life very difficult for yourself because you'll ignore the other party's point of view and put obstacles in your path.

Every successful person is supported by earlier successful individuals. “If I have seen further, it is because I have been standing on the shoulders of giants,” as the scientist Sir Isaac Newton once famously stated.

Having this mindset demonstrates that one is eager to learn as it is a sign of humility, and this was the main aspect of my development as a writer, thinker, and person.

We all learn from each other. You will learn more quickly and become a better person when you are humble and willing to learn from others. Generations should work in this way.

The current generation must outperform the previous one. This may not always be the case globally, but on a personal level, we should all strive to surpass our forebears out of respect rather than competition.

Focus on Your Definition of Success

There are many indicators of success, not just the three characteristics mentioned above. However, the goal of this article is not to compile a comprehensive list of these indicators, and I do not believe that there is such a thing as it is still a matter of opinion.

However, it is not complicated, but we complicate success when we compare ourselves to others rather than living according to our definition of success, and people then end up believing themselves to be a failure.

In Conclusion

You must not be hard on yourself and should just strive to be happy in your own life. This is a really big goal because most people are miserable.  If you can't have it all, what's the big deal? You will be happy, and that is what matters most, after all.