Bill Gates Says These 5 Traits Guarantee Success
When the
world's richest man offers career advice, it's smart to listen.
If you're looking for a role model of
lifelong success, you can't do much better than Bill Gates. Microsoft, the
company he founded, created a whole industry. At a net worth of nearly $80
billion, he's the richest man in the world. His philanthropic activities reach
far and wide and have actually made the world a better place. Oh, and he also
achieved his dream, which was a personal computer on every desk.
What led to
Gates's success? He certainly was in the right place at the right time with the
right concept for a product. But over the years, he himself has pointed to some
of the attitudes he believes lead to continued success. They're a good
guide for anyone, in any field. The personal finance site GOBankingRates has compiled some of
them within a piece about how Gates thinks you should spend
your money.
Here are some
of the most relevant attitudes he looks for--and which anyone can develop:
1. Knowing how to say no.
This is advice
Gates got from Warren Buffett, and it's extremely useful for everyone, whether
you're rich and successful or not. There will always be an unending supply
of opportunities, things to do, causes you care about, and on and on. In
this busy world, knowing when and how to say no to projects, social
invitations, and other requests for your time may be the most important skill
you need. It will allow you to figure out what's truly important, and
then focus your
attention there.
2. Welcoming criticism.
"Embrace
bad news to learn where you need the most improvement," Gates advises in
his book Business @ the Speed of Thought. While it's never pleasant to
hear someone tell you how you've screwed up, without that kind of feedback,
your learning process and growth will be much slower. I find listening to
criticism nearly always gives me perspective that I didn't have, and that I
need.
Of course,
some criticism is not useful--so you have
to use your judgment to tell the difference. With that in mind, next time
someone wants to chew you out, don't walk the other way. Stop, listen, thank
them--and learn.
3. Optimism.
It can be hard
to be optimistic in a
world where so many things seem to be going wrong. But without optimism, no one
would ever start a company, invest in a new idea, or try out a new product or
market.
Gates
appreciates the value of optimism, and since his work addresses some of the
most disheartening problems on our planet, such as sex trafficking, hunger, and
extreme poverty, he needs a lot of it. "Optimism is often dismissed
as false hope," he said in a Stanford commencement speech in 2013.
"But there is also false hopelessness."
4. Being willing to fail.
"Success
is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't
lose," he wrote in his book The Road Ahead. Today's can't-fail product could wind up
obsolete tomorrow, he explains, which could be what's happening to desktop
personal computers and the Windows operating system that often runs them.
You may find
successes more enjoyable than failures, but it's the failures that
will teach you the most and give you the best opportunities to grow. Keep that
in mind next time you fall flat on your face.
5. The ability to focus on a goal
and keep progressing toward it.
In an annual
letter from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates drew some lessons from
the history of the steam engine. "You can achieve amazing progress if you
set a clear goal and find a measure that will drive progress toward that
goal," he wrote. He went on to say that finding the right goal and the right metric for tracking one's
progress is surprisingly difficult.
Then again, if
it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
BY MINDA ZETLIN
http://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/5-success-mindsets-bill-gates-wants-you-to-learn.html?cid=em01016week46a
No comments:
Post a Comment