Every human being on this planet was born into flesh and blood, from flesh and blood parents. Some people were born into wealth and privilege, and some people were born into poverty, but in terms of mental and physical ability, most people were born on a level playing field.
Why is it, then, that some people are successful and some people are not? We can accept that some people are born into wealth and are therefore unlikely to struggle for a day in their lives, but they’re the exception rather than the rule. The world of wealthy and successful business people is full of examples of people who’ve made it there from nothing. Oprah Winfrey, JK Rowling, and Larry Ellison are all billionaires now, but started out life in poor homes.
What makes these people different from us? Obviously, they have talent, but so do lots of people. Talent alone can’t be the deciding factor, and we refuse to believe that it’s all down to luck. We’ve been looking at the lifestyles and habits of successful people, and we’ve noticed that they have more than a few things in common.
They’re Persistent
You have access to Google. Pick a rich businessperson – any rich businessperson. Look up their track record in business. See how many companies attached to their name have been shut down or liquidated over the years. Check for how many of those companies were shut down before they finally landed on a business idea which made them money. Almost nobody has hit it big first time around. Some of them have even gone bankrupt before achieving success.
There is no guarantee of success, but everybody is capable of effort and resilience if they put their mind to it. Successful business leaders use the same mentality as Vegas Slots players, but on a much grander scale. A mobile slots player always knows that they’re going to lose money when they start playing (unless they’re having a very lucky day). They stick with their preferred mobile slots game because they know that with persistent play and a little luck, that slot is eventually going to pay out and make them a winner. Successful people do the same with business ideas. The idea might fail completely once, but if they believe in it, they’ll try again.
They Sleep Less Than We’re Told To
Conventional wisdom tells us that we’re supposed to get eight hours of sleep each and every night. That opinion is backed up by doctors and medical staff. It’s not backed up, however, by the sleep records of some of the wealthiest and most successful people in the world. We’ve looked at a list of how long the super-rich are sleeping, and their doctors ought to be very upset with them.
Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos are shaving an hour off that time, averaging seven hours sleep a night each. Elon Musk is an hour below that, claiming six hours sleep. Richard Branson sometimes gets six hours of shut-eye, but also sometimes opts for five instead. Donald Trump – who should probably be taken with a pinch of salt – claims he only sleeps for three hours per night, which is half the length of time his Presidential predecessor slept for. Successful people are spending more hours awake than us – and therefore presumably going more with that time.
They Diversify
No company, entity, or income stream is entirely immune to the effects of the global economy. During the great financial crash of 2008, we saw that a run on one bank affected the share price of another bank, and then another, and then another. Seemingly untouchable financial institutions collapsed before our eyes. If all of your money was tied up in those institutions, you’d be ruined. Truly successful people are too smart to let that happen.
It’s extremely rare for a rich person’s sole stream of income to be the thing you know them for. The majority of them will have at least one or two additional streams of income. Often, people invest in real estate. They might have hotels, health clubs, or gymnasiums. They’ll invest as a silent partner in a successful business which has nothing to do with their own. The broader their interests are spread, the less they’re damaged by sudden changes in economic conditions.
They Work Out
It’s long been suspected that there’s a connection between having a healthy body and having a healthy mind, and it looks like we might be able to confirm that. Richard Branson – the billionaire owner of Virgin among other companies – has gone on record as saying that as he started to get older, he noticed his productivity was slowly beginning to slip. He could have put it down to the effects of the passing years, but he wasn’t minded to do so.
Instead, Branson decided to start waking up at 5 am and either playing tennis, or spending an hour on an exercise bike. His productivity didn’t just return to his previous levels – it surpassed it. Instead of finding excuses for why they can’t get things done, successful people find solutions instead. We don’t have a tennis partner to play against at 5 am, and we suspect you don’t either, but we could definitely get hold of an exercise bike.
They Read
We know you read. You’re reading right now. There’s reading articles online, though, and there’s reading for leisure, and reading a lot. Reading books is becoming viewed as something of a lost art in the modern world – but seemingly not to the most successful people in the world.
Warren Buffet – who knows a thing or two about successful investments and successful habits – once said that reading is the most important personal trait he’s ever developed. He feels that it keeps his brain sharp, helps him stay focused, and keeps him informed of the world around him. That’s perhaps why his business acumen never seems to have deserted him, even though he’s now approaching 90 years old.
There’s a common thread that runs through all of these personality traits – extraordinary effort. It’s hard to run on less sleep than the average human being. It’s probably even harder to work out when you’re running on less sleep, and harder again to read a book without passing out after all that exercise and so little sleep! Through those physical rigors, though, we imagine the rich and powerful learn persistence – and it’s that mental and physical persistence which seems to drive them to the top.
