5 Daily Habits of
5 Incredibly Successful People (Including 2 Billionaires)
Mark Cuban, Venus Williams, Jack Welch, Kirk Hammett, and Roger
Penske all do at least one thing consistently--and have the results to show for
it.
In the past
months, I've been fortunate enough to meet and speak with some incredibly
successful people; in this case, Mark Cuban, Venus Williams, Jack Welch, Kirk Hammett, and Roger
Penske.
They're all remarkably successful, yet in
each instance at least one thing stood out to me--one behavior, one belief, one
approach or strategy or habit--that I feel helps form the foundation of each
person's success.
And while it's definitely presumptuous of me
to choose just one outstanding quality for each of them...that's what I did.
(To make up for it, I've included links to the original articles and videos so
you can decide for yourself.)
Here we go:
Jack Welch: Look for leaders with the
"generosity gene."
Jack feels he has never seen a great leader
who didn't have the "generosity gene." Leaders who have it
desperately want to give raises and promote people, and they get as much
satisfaction from other people's success as they did from their own
"Once you're in charge of people, it's
no longer about you--it's about your team. Any leader who still thinks it's
about him is destined to fail," he says.
In short, Jack feels every great leader
decides that his or her own success will only come through the success of other
people.
And you should, too.
Venus Williams: Always be an "and."
Venus has been
incredibly successful in tennis, yet she's worked towards building separate
careers for years. She's definitely an and: a person who does
this, and this, and this....
"To me, that's normal," she says.
"From an early age, I had to figure out how to be amazing at what I did
and do well in school at the same time. In my home, we weren't allowed just to
be athletes. We had to be students. And our dad taught us to be entrepreneurs.
We would drive to a tennis tournament somewhere, and he would put in a cassette
about buying foreclosure properties. We were 8 and 9 years old and we had to
listen to how to make money on foreclosures.
"Obviously, we didn't understand much of
it. That didn't really matter, because our dad was trying to establish that
mindset of multitasking, of being an entrepreneur, of charting your own
path...so for me, trying to excel at multiple things is normal."
Trying to excel at multiple things should be
normal for you, too. We're all capable of doing more than one thing--and when
you pick the right things, they often complement the others.
Mark Cuban: The power of small moments.
A volunteer at an Inc. GrowCo event had
manned a post by the green room all day and was hoping to meet Mark. Mark was
inside doing taped interviews, local and national media...and then it was past
time for him to hit the stage. People were hustling him to the door.
And yet, when asked, he happily stopped. And
he didn't grudgingly agree; he smiled, gestured to volunteer David Head, and
said, "Hey, let's get a picture together." And they did.
That moment is a reminder of something we can
all do. Sure, we can't always provide significant help to people. We can't
always write a check. And we can't always offer major chunks of time to those
who ask, no matter how desperately they may be in need.
But we can always
take a moment to be nice, to be gracious, to be kind, for no other reason than
because we can. That's what Mark did. Even though he was pressed for time and
seconds away from going onstage in front of a packed auditorium, he stopped to
do something nice for someone he didn't know--just because he could.
I guarantee David won't forget it. And
someday, when he's a successful entrepreneur, I guarantee David will treat
young entrepreneurs with the same grace and kindness.
Whenever you can, stop and do something nice.
The impact you make could make a huge difference.
Kirk Hammett: Be totally invested in the
moment.
Imagine you're the lead guitarist for the
most successful hard rock band of all time. Over a 30-plus year career you've
played in front of hundreds of millions of people.
And yet you say this: "I'm a complete
introvert. The thought of celebrity and fame scares me. It's really hard for me
to enter certain social situations."
So I asked the obvious question: "How do
you go from in your room, learning to play guitar, to standing in front of
40,000 people, all alone, playing a solo...how does that gap get bridged?"
"It's the same thing," he said.
"There is no gap. When I play guitar in my room, I'm there and I'm playing
guitar and I'm totally invested in the moment. When I'm onstage, it's like an
empty room with three other guys. There just happens to be 40,000 people out
there. I'm just playing, doing what I do best."
When you're in the moment, doing what you do
best, magical things happen.
Work hard to create more of those moments,
because not only is that when you're likely to be most successful...it's also
when you're most alive.
More
from my interviews with Kirk Hammett, including why starting a business has been more fun and creatively
satisfying than he ever imagined. (And if you like videos, here's Kirk talking about
entrepreneurship, music, and Metallica.) (And if
you're a Metallica fan, here's what it was like to see
the band at Webster Hall in September.)
Roger Penske:
Focus on what is in front of you.
Roger owns over 325 retail auto dealerships,
a truck leasing company that operates over 240,000 vehicles, has interests in a
variety of manufacturing businesses...all told, he employs over 50,000 people.
And his race teams have won over 400 races
and 29 championships, including 16 Indy 500s and two Daytona 500s.
That's a lot to oversee. If anyone should
stay focused the big picture, it's Roger.
And he
does...but he doesn't. He travels over 600,000 air miles every year, visiting
dealerships and factories and teams. Roger feels the only way to have his finger
on the pulse of his operations is to actually have his finger on the
pulse.
And so can you. The devil is always in the
details.
BY JEFF
HADEN
http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/5-daily-habits-of-5-incredibly-successful-people-including-2-billionaires.html?cid=nl029Aweek44day01
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