In many fields, we have “naturals” who seem to be able to succeed almost without any specific effort and the “self-made man”, which we should certainly amend to self-made person, who succeed through directed hard work. Both of these types of people have some characteristics in common and here we will explore a few of these characteristics.
Stay Playful
There is a vast difference between being childish and being childlike. Kids are childish. When an adult is still childish, it is quite sad to see. George Costanza (Seinfeld shows) was a perfect example of the childish adult.
Being childlike is a major benefit for adults. Far too many adults equate being childlike with being immature. The most successful people, the greatest game changers, have the knack of being childlike when it is appropriate. Losing the childlike quality makes people morose. Morose people easily telegraph this feeling to the people around them and it makes for an unhappy professional or business environment.
Playfulness also involves simply playing games. In this context, we are referring to much more than exercising, working out, or playing games for the health benefit. We mean playing games for the simple pleasure of playing games.
Almost any type of game is valuable but we find that online casino gaming on a mobile platform may be one of the best ways to play for the sheer fun of it. A mobile casino such as Springbok mobile casino, allows people to pay on a clear, mobile screen with another person.
You can even play for free at an online casino! You can play on your large tablet in bed or lounging on a sofa with your significant other. It is the ability to play for fun that removes the physical and emotional “toxins” that let you begin the next day with a clear head and a clear heart.
Stay Positive
Some people truly have to learn the many benefits of maintaining a positive attitude. At the highest levels, people are exposed to a lot of negativity. It may come in the form of criticism or in the form of unhappy, even depressed, people all around.
Staying positive is not an easy task for most people. In the past, people used religion to stay positive but we live today in a solidly post-religious time. Many people have not found a positive outlet that once was provided by religion so they resort to the opposite: extreme anger.
In many countries, politics is increasingly becoming a zero-sum game fueled by tremendous anger. However, the present US President, Donald Trump, and the most recent President, Barack Obama, exude and exuded positivity. Trump made the keyword of his campaign for the presidency to “make America great again”. His opponent, Hillary Clinton had no similar positive message. Her message essentially was “vote for me because I am me”.
Barack Obama combined the elements of hope and change. He made no doubt that he would work for change but the change would be predicated on the desire for hope. That meant to millions of people that the change Obama would bring would be good for them.
The Small Stuff
In the 1980’s we were told to ignore the small stuff. The meaning was that overemphasizing minor things led to anger, frustration, resentment, and many other negative emotions. However, the greatest game changers understand the vital importance of focusing at least as much on the small stuff as they do on the big stuff.
The small stuff means saying hello or good morning. For a man, it means keeping his eyes where they belong. The small stuff means being attentive to the needs of customers, clients, suppliers, and employees.
It actually costs less to be more attentive to other people’s needs than to be inattentive to them. The obvious, visible costs are fewer than the hidden, more subtle financial benefits of attentiveness.
Develop Good Habits
When we were kids, we were told to break our habits. However, there are many good habits that we should cultivate. Healthy eating and proper sleeping are habits that most people need to learn. Walking, swimming, hiking, or generally moving our bodies is another habit that we need to learn because it doesn’t come naturally to modern people.
Turn your phone off. Invite someone to lunch or even better to Christmas dinner. Work on being less formal. Discover your most basic strengths and work on improving them. Pay yourself a “salary” and save, invest, or donate the rest.
Everyone can think of a long list of things they can do habitually that will make them better people.
Develop Sound Emotional Intelligence
People are essentially emotional creatures. Even one entire branch of logic called inductive reasoning is based primarily on emotionally feeling that the conclusion is true. Emotional intelligence involves seeing everyone as a valuable individual. It involves being able to shrug off losses. It involves keeping everything in its proper perspective.
People relate to life emotionally far more than they relate to it intellectually. Emotional intelligence understands this and allows us to relate to the others’ emotions instead of trying to pigeonhole everyone into a mathematical formula of sorts.
Recognize the Limits of Information
The term “number cruncher” is a modern way of describing people who avoid making decisions because they need more information. At some point, we have enough information. In the information age, we can never have all of the information but we can have enough to make an intelligent decision.
The story of the famous Avis Car Rental ad of the 1960’s bears telling here. The new President of Avis, Robert Townshend, hired an advertising firm to produce a great ad campaign for Avis which was the second largest such company in the United States but was far behind Hertz, the number one.
Townshend made a crucial decision that showed his ability to decide with enough but not all the information he might gather. He said that Avis was committed to going with the ad campaign that the ad company would recommend without prevarication.
Weeks later the head of the ad company arranged a top-level meeting at which he would present his company’s proposal. At the meeting, he said that he and his top managers were not happy with the campaign they were about to recommend even though it was the best they could come up with and offered to allow Avis to not use the campaign despite the original promise.
The Avis people also didn’t like the proposal but Townshend was adamant that they go ahead and use it. It turned out to be one of the most successful ad campaigns in US business history – who is not familiar with the slogan: We try harder?
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