The 1 Trait All Successful People Have

Nicolascoletraitallsuccessfulpeoplehave

First of all, let me start by saying that "success" is relative. However you define success is what success will ultimately be for you.

Now...

When looking at some of the world's thought leaders, people who have redefined industries, those that grab hold of a market and shake it until it sways to the beat of their own drum, I've noticed a trend.

This is a trend I have also witnessed specifically in three of my mentors, Ron GiboriAaron Webber, and Mark Beeching. These are masters of their fields, but even more so, masters of their approach to their work. After all, it is the approach that ultimately allows "success" to be transferred from one domain to the next.

What I've noticed is that being "successful" doesn't really have to do with waking up earlier, going to bed later, drinking more coffee, doing your work upside-down, incorporating power-saving light bulbs in your office, going for long walks in the wilderness and then coming upon a babbling brook and staring at your reflection, reading books on innovation and creativity, attending seminars and industry retreats, marketing yourself on social media, positioning yourself as a thought leader, or any of those more tactical strategies that all too often hide the fundamental principle that drives all of that in the first place. Those things are great, but they aren't the "core."

The 1 trait that all successful people have in common is this:

Successful people are 100% confident that, whatever the challenge, they will be able to figure it out--and at the same time, they are 100% willing to forgo everything they think they know and admit to knowing nothing.

What I mean by that is this: Truly "successful" people are those who lack the fear of being wrong, and instead embrace it (because "wrong" to them is part of the learning process).  Truly "successful" people want to know everything about their craft and the industry they're in, and at the same time never want to say the words "I know everything." That means the discovery process is over--and it is never over.

It's a trait of duality, then, having such a wide scope of knowledge that, in a sense, you do "know everything," however also having the humility and the child-like wonder to keep both eyes open and admit, at any moment, "I know nothing. I am new to this."

So many people fear that state of vulnerability because they view it as a weakness. It is quite the contrary. It is actually the trait, arguably the only trait, that allows someone to constantly reinvent themselves--and subsequently the industries they play within. After all, without admitting you don't have all the answers, how else will you discover the next "answer?"