Ep 104 – 7 Qualities that set people apart

Who amongst us does not crave for success? As humans, success is something we naturally seek as a way of life. But today the definitions of success is changing. The age of information and the internet have disrupted linear principles of rising the ladder in a career gradually overtime to amass wealth and proficiency. Today you can be successful at any age, find a multiplier or a lever across mediums and amass wealth without ever holding a full-time job. But still success remains accessible to only handful of individuals. What sets them apart?

Hi, you’re listening to Own your every day in the Being Meraklis Podcast and I’m your host and self-awareness coach Shwetha Sivaraman. Today we’re going to talk about what sets successful people apart and how we can inculcate the mindset towards achieving our goals in life.

Now each of us might define success differently. For some success might mean wealth creation, for some success equals fame and popularity, for others if you’re like me success means fulfilment and impact. Whatever you feel motivated to work towards is immaterial for our discussion today. Instead we are focusing on the approach, how we work towards those goals in a way that makes us stand out.

A few things I’ve observed over the years that set people apart

1. Strong value system – The older I get the more I realise how important values are in life. Like John Kerry says, “Values are not just words, values are what we live by. They’re about the causes that we champion and the people we fight for.”
Values are guiding principles, compasses that navigate us back to safe shores whenever we feel lost at sea in life. When we know our values, decision making and life’s most difficult choices also become easy.

Do you know what your core values are? If not, I urge you to find them out and go back to areas in your life where you feel friction and ask yourself what core value that you treasure is missing in the current context.

2. Unwavering Focus – In a world where plenty of distractions abound, a quality that sets some people apart is unwavering focus. Like Zig Zaglar says, “I don’t care how much power, brilliance or energy you have, if you don’t harness it and focus it on a specific target, and hold it there you’re never going to accomplish as much as your ability warrants.”

Cultivating focus in a noisy world is nothing short of a superpower but do that and you’re a ninja warrior. Even average common folk like you and me can become extraordinary simply with laser-like focus as Bruce Lee calls it. Develop laser-like focus towards goals that matter to you and work towards them no matter the circumstances

3. No care for what people think – Most of the times the reason we never let our individuality shine is because of fear of what other people think. Our innate human desire to belong to society or in a community/locality, forces us to toe the line as per the latest currents in group think. But belonging comes at a price – the price of never truly realising your power and all that your individuality could be.

As long as we have complete conviction in the things we are working towards and how it will create a better tomorrow for whatever cause we are championing, we must keep at it, no matter the chatter of the nameless society around us. We stand apart when we dare to dream beyond the status quo.

4. Humility to learn continuously – One of the things that always sets people apart for me is the inquisitiveness to learn and know more. In a world as infinite and magnificent as ours, there’s no dearth of how much a human can understand in this brief lifespan.

A child-like curiosity carried on to our adult years can help us not come to conclusions fast and keep learning to widen our horizon of knowledge and wisdom. A bonus of the child-like curiosity is that you do not age as quickly 😉

5. Not afraid to make mistakes – Calling out all perfectionists here. When we are too afraid to make mistakes we take lesser chances and stay within comfort zone to avoid looking like a fool. I believe that what sets people apart is the courage to make mistakes, the guts to look like a fool if they must as they work towards their larger goals in life.

6. Ability to take failure in stride – This is but a byproduct of taking the courage to walk the path less travelled. We might make mistakes. We might even fail. But how do we respond to the failure is a crucial aspect of what sets some folks apart. The ability to face failure, embrace it, and learn from it without distorting our identity of ourselves is an art we must all aspire to learn cause it will serve us leaps and bounds in living our best life. Failure is not the end of the road, it is a redirection if we can use it well and grow through it.

7. Accountable to oneself and one’s goals – This I think is the killer factor setting successful humans apart from common folk. 100% responsibility and total accountability to self towards working to the desired goals. Most of us hold ourselves accountable at work to our bosses, at home to our families, but rare few hold themselves accountable to themselves. I believe if we can truly hold ourselves accountable and take complete responsibility for our thoughts, behaviours, and actions we can totally transform our lives.

So here’s your own your everyday tip, try and identify which of these 7 aspects you need to inculcate in your life and actively find a way to live those aspects in your day to day interactions and transactions with others. I’m also curious, what would you add to this list? What other quality do you beleive sets people apart? Let me know.

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This is Shwetha signing off hoping you have a fabulous week