Bill Gates Says These 5 Traits Guarantee
Success
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=em01016week26a
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