25 Character Traits And Daily Habits Of Successful People You Need To Know

Rewind back to 1989, will you?

That is, of course, if in 1989, you were over 18 years old back and you happened to be an avid book reader.

Allow me to refresh your memory, shall you?

In 1989 an era-changing event was taking place. That event is the publication of the late Stephen Covey’s now-classic tome entitled “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People.”

What was it about this particular book that made it tick?

In short, it’s because this book, 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, ignited a literal tidal wave of change in how we view the “haves” and “have-nots” of success.

Covey’s model of moving from independence to interdependence might best be exemplified by the late mathematician John Nash’s “Nash Equilibrium.”

​7 Habits of Highly Successful People 

Inspirational quotes by Stephen R. Covey

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.Click To Tweet

In its day and age, Nash Equilibrium turned 100 years of economic theory on its head!

According to Nash Equilibrium, the best outcome always comes when each person aims for their success. And the success of the group.

In 1994, Nash co-won the Nobel Prize for his interpretation of what is now called the non-zero-sum game theory.

Covey, Nash, and other literal game-changers have something to teach the rest of us.

They teach about what it takes to build and live a highly successful life on a micro-cosmic and macro-cosmic level.

These 25 character traits and daily habits of successful people can help you set your personal and professional compass towards the true North of lasting success. One disciplined and deliberately lived a day at a time.

What does it take to be a successful person in today’s challenging world?

Do you need to be born into the right family to be successful? Perhaps it is all about the school and college you attend.

Maybe, successful people possess in them a sheer power and determination to never give up until they achieve success!

Success has many contributing factors.

The character traits and habits of successful people we discuss on this page are not the sole determinants of whether you can be highly successful, but they will put you on the right path.

Most people can implement these habits of highly successful people in the world, and within a short time frame, they will change their lifestyle in a big way.

If you set your mind to it and are disciplined to form daily habits, you can also be successful.

Here are some of the best practices and habits of successful people gathered from the habits of highly effective people in multiple fields.

If you’ve ever activated Siri, Alexa, or any virtual assistant you use, I’m sure when you first started, you must have heard, “I didn’t understand” countless times.

I know. Siri, and Alexa…, that is a talk for another day!

They can get into your nerves, but that is what happens when you set about pursuing success before you know what it means to you personally.

Of course, in our intensely Westernized, career-focused culture, it is easy to assume “success” refers to your career.

Really, is that it? Does success revolve all around your career?

If you had to think about what success looks, consider asking Tim Ferriss, author of the runaway best-seller “The 4-Hour Workweek.”Click To Tweet

Tim turned our entire westernized concept of workaholism on its head, focusing on doing more in less time to create a life that also gives him room to have a life, so to speak!

Spend some time considering the big picture of what success looks like to you. Then, understand how your successful life is going to be.

Write it down. Or draw it if you are more of a visual learner.

Define every detail and get very, very clear. Only then is it time to make your move and create what you already see so clearly inside your mind’s eye.

To hear Stanford researchers tell it, passion is a loaded word these days.

Depending on who you ask, following your passion will lead you to your most successful self or send you on a wild goose chase that ends in the proverbial navel-gazing.

Perhaps a better – or more modern – word would be energy. Notice where your energy consistently goes.​

If you don’t feel engaged at work, where do your thoughts go while you are working away at your tedious and boring job?Click To Tweet

And when you are not at work, what are you doing – or dreaming of doing? Unfortunately, that is likely where your real effort, energy, passion, or whatever word you want to use lies.

Remember, your success will likely follow where your thoughts and effort go.

Whether you call it the science of positivity, the law of attraction, or even reprogramming your survival-focused mammalian brain, there is one thing you can count on:

Expecting good things feels better than expecting bad things.

Expectation doesn’t mean you sit back with a cup of coffee and watch the morning news while waiting for your skills and talents to be discovered.

It means that you believe in yourself and what you have to offer to the world through your unique skills and talents and put in your best efforts.

It also means your mindset and focus are one of seeking and finding the next open door, the next opportunity, the next handshake, or the next collaboration. Or, as Forbes puts it, “success follows the optimist.”​

If you want success to follow you, start by becoming optimistic.Click To Tweet

Discipline is not one of those words we tend to love.

Say “margarita” and watch everyone’s faces light up. Say “discipline” and notice how the room quiets down.

According to master intuitive teacher and author Sonia Choquette, discipline is not about pain, hurt, or suffering. Instead, in her book “Your Heart’s Desire,” Choquette redefines discipline as “learning.”

When you embark on your journey to success with a disciplined mind that is eager for learning, you bring along what she describes as the secret ingredient to success, which is enthusiasm.Click To Tweet

Discipline may mean you begin your morning with meditation, a brisk run with your dog, or a cup of coffee with your favorite mentor.

Enacting this discipline reminds us to take ourselves, our success, and our life seriously.

There is a reason why the author Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist’s Way” has won so many awards. As a result, it now resides permanently in the “Self-Publishing Hall of Fame.”

First published in 1991, the book has sold more than four million copies worldwide and birthed numerous spin-offs, including a 12-week online course and book versions for different age groups and stages of life.

Human brain quote by Michio Kaku

The human brain has 100 billion neurons, each neuron connected to 10 thousand other neurons. Sitting on your shoulders is the most complicated object in the known universe.Click To Tweet

Did Julia Cameron, who started as an aspiring filmmaker, ever think her adventures in right-brain focus would lead to such stunning success?

And yet she continued to cultivate success by not giving up when her first film was panned, her first manuscript was rejected, and so forth.

Choice architecture is the term co-authors Richard H. Thaler, and Cass R. Sunstein give to their theories of social connectivity, outlined in the Yale University Press book “Nudge.”

In a nutshell, “Nudge” outlines how the company we keep can influence us by “nudging” us towards more or less life, health, and success-affirming behaviors.

It’s wise to surround ourselves with people who mirror back to us our highest aspirations, best qualities, and the most open mindset.

Motivational quote by Richard Thaler

If you want to encourage someone to do something, make it easy.Click To Tweet

If we do so, then we are more likely to achieve any goal we set in life, whether it is losing weight or launching our own business.

It is essential to understand that choice architecture extends to the proverbial six degrees of separation.

In other words, people you don’t personally know who know the people closest to you also factor into your choice of architecture.

If you’re looking for data supporting the importance of team-building for lasting success, Sunstein and Thaler’s work might just be it.

If you were the type to choose and layout your school clothes the night before, this daily habit would come naturally to you.

Planning out the details that can be pre-planned will help you ease your mind and enjoy a more restful sleep.

Planning ahead also frees up your morning time for meditation, exercise, brainstorming, and other habits essential to your success.

Quote by Benjamin Franklin

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.Click To Tweet

If you’ve ever watched the Stanley Kubrick cult classic dramedy “Dr. Strangelove: or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb,” you already understand the “priceless” value of remaining teachable.

Attaining a position of power, leadership, and authority can be addictive.

It can lead to making some very, very bad choices.

It can quickly and without any warning whatsoever turn into stupidity. Or it can become a vehicle to change the world for the better.

It all depends on how you handle the mantle hanging over your shoulders.

Inspirational quote by Israelmore Ayivor

Just be silent, humble and teachable. If you ever think you know it all, that is the beginning of your troubles.Click To Tweet

Inc. uses a rather odd word to describe this concept: “unoffendable.”

Being unoffendable lies at the meeting point between student and master, confidence and humility. Perhaps the Dalai Lama says it best in his now-famous quote, “Whenever possible, be kind. It is always possible.”

Just substitute the word “teachable” for the word “kind,” and you have the right idea.

Maintaining a spirit of adventure is a critical habit of entrepreneurship and success that some colleges have even added courses on the topic to their curricula.

For the truly adventurous, you might substitute the word “fun” for the word “adventure.” After all, succeeding can be so much fun!

Having adventures is what we lived for as kids. So for most of us, if something didn’t sound fun, we didn’t want to do it, period.

The growing-up process, what author and teacher Don Miguel Ruiz calls the process of “domestication,” may have instilled in us the dogged determination and discipline to do the unfun stuff.

We probably have never learned to like it any better.

Quote by Paulo Coelho

If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine. It’s lethal!Click To Tweet

In contrast, having adventures probably still sounds like a lot of fun!

So what if you reframed it as adventuring your way to success instead of working towards it? Doesn’t that sound like a lot more fun?

Ultimately, the spirit of adventure has carried humankind to the moon, the world wide web, and farther out into the galaxy to search for alien life.

A healthy dose of adventure can also move you toward your dreams of success.

When working towards success in any area of life, it can be easy to forget you are not just a mind, body, heart, or part of the greater connected whole.

You are all of these elements and more.

If one aspect of yourself is weakened, whether from overwork, poor nutrition, inadequate sleep, non-nurturing relationships, or something else, the rest of you is impaired to a degree as well.

To this end, there must be a reason why Entrepreneur magazine cites exercise as one of the most significant competitive advantages of today’s successful entrepreneurs.

If you like to multitask, adding exercise to your day can be a great way to network or even meet colleagues or co-workers to brainstorm.

Success quotes by Colin R. Davis

The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same.Click To Tweet

On the other hand, if you are more of an introvert and need time alone to recharge, exercise is the perfect way to take it.

Most importantly, just like so many mega-popular hit songwriters like DJ Khalid say they got that great idea for a hit song while in the shower.

Taking time out to move your body can help you move your mind out of stuck places.

Before you realize you are stuck, you will be unstuck and headed off into the creative zone again, paving the way for even more success.

Unless your idea of success is meditating in a cave alone in the Himalayas… Are you? (I didn’t think so 🙂

If you want to achieve your dreams of becoming successful, you are eventually going to have to win the trust of others.

Trust isn’t always built by having the correct answers or even the right questions.

One of the most potent ways to build trust is simply by opening your ears instead of your mouth. Becoming willing to listen first and for as long as necessary is an exercise in vulnerability, that is for sure.

Brene Brown’s research highlights (see number 24 below), that only:

1. The most active and,
2. Most confident leaders,

Understand just how powerful a well-timed display of vulnerability can be in building teams destined to succeed.

Quote by Helen Hollick

Two people can only live as one when each is prepared to give and receive trust and understanding. Above that lies respect. Without respect for how the other feels, no marriage is worthwhile.Click To Tweet

Once you get used to success, it can feel reassuring to remember you will never become too successful.

There is always room to learn something new from someone who can keep you relevant and even help you reinvent yourself.

It is a formula that has worked well for famous celebrities like Madonna, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Sheryl Sandberg, and many others.

Most successful people have faced significant obstacles or challenges on the road to success and used their ears – not their mouths – to lead them in new and exciting directions.

What do you know about neuroscience?

If you answered “not much,” you are definitely in the majority.

Neuroscience has something to teach us all about success and how it happens.

For example, the latest research on goal setting and achievement shows that individuals who can vividly picture and describe their goals are between 1.2 and 1.4 times more likely to achieve them.

Now that you know that consider this:

Just 20 percent of people polled say they write down their goals.

So now imagine you write down your goals – or at least build such a vivid and detailed mental picture of you achieving your goals that you could entertain friends for hours describing exactly how it will happen.

How much more likely than at least 80 percent of other goal-seekers will you then be to achieve your goals?

Pretty darned likely is the worst-case scenario.

You might wonder, what does this all have to do with neuroscience?

When you write down or vividly picture your goals in detail, your brain gets busy doing something called “encoding.”Click To Tweet

Let’s say you write down your goals in detail on a piece of paper.

You then head to your file cabinet and file that piece of paper under “goals in progress.” This is the external version of encoding.

As you’re writing down your goals…

This is happening inside our heads. The brain is doing the neurological equivalent by “writing” down all the details of our goal and “filing” it to our short-term and long-term memory banks.

Our brain is locking away all the elements of our goal. That way, it can recall it at any time.

Your goals are added to the “file” as needed and continue to refresh as you adjust your goals and continue to pursue the success you are building now for the ‘the-future-you’ to enjoy.

Remember Tim Ferriss of the “4-Hour Work Week?” (See number 1 above.)

Guess what he has in common with Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Paul Mitchell founder John Paul DeGoria, the late poet Maya Angelou and others?

If you answered “a daily practice of giving thanks,” you are the lucky winner.

Congratulations! You’ve just won a better-than-average chance of succeeding at your chosen goals. Why? It is because gratitude paves the way for success, no matter how you look at it.

For some entrepreneurs and successful leaders, sticking to a daily gratitude practice is essential. Therefore, they reserve the first few minutes of every day for this particular focus.

Gratitude reinforces every other personal quality that could smooth your path toward success. For example, when you feel thankful, you naturally listen more and talk less.

You value your time and use it wisely.Click To Tweet

Despite all the ups and downs of life, the challenges and opportunities, it is better to seek balance in giving and receiving and stay mindful of our shared humanity.

Most of all, gratitude breeds success because it points out little steps forward that you might not have noticed yourself taking.

When you can see and celebrate the small achievements, it just makes sense that the more significant successes are sure to follow.

As Forbes points out, the word “no” is a complete sentence in and of itself.

Success requires using two words: “yes” and “no.” Both are complete sentences.

A simple “yes” or “no.” is an incredibly powerful sentence.

How you use the words “yes,” and “no” has the potential to create or end your chances for success. Those 2 words are reputation-building or reputation-breaking sentences.

An example perfectly illustrates the power of a simple “no.”

If you are in the habit of making lengthy daily to-do lists, you will easily relate to this. For example, let’s say an average daily to-do list for you has 10 items.

The items at the top of the list are really important – big items that will take a lot of time and energy but are essential to achieving your success goals.

The items at the bottom are not critical – small items that won’t take much time but also won’t deliver much impact.Click To Tweet

You have gotten into the habit of starting at the bottom of your to-do list each day because the lower-level items are easy and fast to do, and you feel good about being able to check things off your list.

There is just one problem.

By the time a typical day ends, you have only gotten up to number four or three on your to-do list, and you never get any higher.

So your top-level items – the ones that are critical to your success – never get done. As a discipline, challenge yourself to whittle down your to-do list.

Add only two or three essential items to each day’s agenda.

Start at the top and work your way down.

Use your “no” to keep smaller, less impactful things off your to-do list, so you have time and energy for the big stuff that matters most.

If necessary, post your list on your phone or laptop. If any request comes through that doesn’t match up with your to-do list items, it is an automatic “no.”

Only if you learn to say “no” to the smaller stuff you’ll have the time and energy to say “yes” to the big thing your success dream demands from you.

Successful-minded leaders wear multiple hats.

If I’m correct, I’m guessing you are probably already wearing multiple hats of multitasking, especially as you seek out that ever-receding mirage of work/life balance that can seem elusive today.

So you already know you will need to find ways to multitask.

It’s a common belief that multitasks facilitate the accomplishment of two goals at one time rather than canceling each other out.Click To Tweet

A good example is to use time on conference calls to sneak in some fitness – perhaps a brisk walk at the park or interval training on the exercise bike.

When done right, multitasking can keep your brain sharp and your body fit and maybe even inspire your team members to do the same.

What if you could improve your memory, stave off scary diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia, and so much more – would you do it?

What if you knew you could do just one thing to stay mentally sharp and physically healthy, lose or maintain your ideal body weight, look and feel younger, and come up with great new ideas – would you do it?

What if you discovered that one thing is sleep? It is true many notable inventors, entrepreneurs, and leaders famously went without much sleep, slept erratically, or struggled with insomnia.

Think how much more these individuals could have achieved if they had the proper sleep time!

Without sufficient quantity and quality of nightly sleep, we put ourselves at a severe, chronic, and cumulative disadvantage.Click To Tweet

Sleep researcher Matthew Walker’s new book, “Why We Sleep,” couldn’t be more explicit in emphasizing just how important sleep is to our quality of life.

While our modern culture continues to prize workaholism and sleep deprivation in service to more tremendous success, sleep science soundly disproves this theory.

To succeed in your full potential, you need to safeguard your sleep.

Diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, cancer, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are the names of our most pernicious modern-day serial killers.

According to Science Daily reports, each-and-every one of them recedes when we do one thing – spend more time in nature.

In fact, in Japan, there is no such a thing as “forest bathing,” where people go to the forest and lay down to inhale phytoncides, natural organic by-products produced by trees as they “breathe.”

Of course, depending on where you live and the pace of your daily life, it may only not be possible or feasible to make it to the local park or even outside to get a breath of fresh air courtesy of a local oak tree.

You are going to have to get creative and bring some nature to you.Click To Tweet

In-office settings, this can mean adding more green plants to your office space, installing lightbulbs that provide a full-spectrum balanced light, adding an air purifier, or choosing your favorite desktop screensaver.

Perhaps you work in a pet-friendly place and can bring your pet to work and encourage your teammates to do the same.

Side note: If you aren’t aware of the pets in the workplace movement and all the positive benefits this program has for the whole office, this is a great time to get familiar!

Nature helps us to shed stress as quickly as a dog shakes off water after a rain shower. Lower stress equals better everything – including success.

Let your mind go back to the last time you woke up and your day completely went south on you from when you woke up and for the rest of your day.

How did you respond? Did you cope well?

Were you able to move fluidly with the changes like a pro boxer outsmarting their opponent?

Did you spend the rest of that day trying to arm wrestle your schedule to the ground and make it go the way you had planned?

Inspirational quote by Albert Einstein

The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.Click To Tweet

Did you know that sometimes the best surprises hide inside those days that refuse to go according to plan?

We all hope things happen according to our plans, but life is something else.

The more you can adapt, adjust, stay flexible, and be open to changing things up, the higher chance you have of hearing the opportunity knocking in the unexpected chaos.

You will be hard-pressed to find a single truly successful person who says, “Boy was that easy, and I wasn’t afraid at all.”

We might have an enormous prefrontal cortex today with all the higher faculties that afford us, but deep down in our ancient limbic reptilian brain, we are still just trying to survive for one more day.

And we are still riddled with fear.

Acknowledging fear as the elephant in the room can often free up energy and focus to get back to building success one terrifying step at a time.

If you can’t get rid of fear, at least you can acknowledge its existence, laugh about how scary it is, and then get back to work, knowing that if there is one thing you and your teammates all share in common, it is fear.

Motivational quote by Jack Canfield

Everything you want is on the other side of fearClick To Tweet

Think of the most motivational thing that makes you feel unstoppable. Now imagine you start every day doing that thing.

Entrepreneur calls this “winning the morning,” It is a standard ritual for many of today’s most respected and well-known successful leaders and entrepreneurs.

Quote by Kobe Bryant

I’ll do whatever it takes to win games, whether it’s sitting on a bench waving a towel, handing a cup of water to a teammate, or hitting the game-winning shot.Click To Tweet

Depending on the industry and lifestyle, your “weekend” may fall on a Saturday, Sunday, or mid-week.

Regardless, when it comes around, TAKE it.

And don’t give in to the temptation to end it just a little bit early.

Your brain, body, and heart will thank you for using the time to process what needs processing, file what needs filing, and discard what needs discarding.

Train yourself to clear your path for the work week yet to come.Click To Tweet

You know FOMO, Fear of Missing Out! Unfortunately, FOMO has a stranglehold on pop culture.

Did you know that the original girl-preneur Paris Hilton once announced on a Netflix special that she was afraid to die because death was “beyond boring?”

There are worse things than discovering being dead is boring.

One of them is the genuine possibility of missing out on your life because you are so busy worrying about missing out on your life.

Quote by Rebecca Raisin

Jeez, have I been missing out on living because I've let my fear drive every single choice I've ever made?Click To Tweet

The culture we live in today puts a premium on staying accessible at all times. As a result, you may feel guilty for stepping away from your phone, tablet, or laptop.

Here, the real challenge isn’t “breaking up with your phone,” as the New York Times labels it. 

The real challenge is deciding for yourself, on your own, without your phone’s influence, what you want to focus your time and attention.Click To Tweet

Your phone can even be a barrier to your success if you focus on it to the exclusion of other success-building activities you must attend.

In her book “Daring Greatly,” international best-selling teacher, author, and shame and vulnerability researcher Brene Brown, Ph.D., gives her take on casual criticism and the often nameless, faceless critics who offer it.

Think about the last time you asked anyone for their opinion on something. You probably got it, right?

With the relative anonymity of social media as their ally, casual criticism is rampant, and there isn’t much we can do to stop it.

You can choose whether or not to listen. And you can certainly choose whether or not to ask!Click To Tweet

Instead, take a leaf out of Brene Brown’s book.

Get a notecard (or use your favorite e-note program) and write on it the names of the people whose opinions you genuinely value and trust.

You can ask those people for ideas, advice, guidance, feedback, and constructive criticism (and don’t forget to add your name to that list).

As for the rest of us, “put it where the sun doesn’t shine” seems to sum it up nicely.

Pursuing success can become addictive, sometimes with scary results.

Take the billionaire Howard Hughes, who made his fortune in exciting industries like film and aviation.

Yet, at the end of his life, Hughes spent the majority of his time alone, unwashed and unclothed in hotel rooms, eventually passing away without even leaving a will.

What happened?

Psychological autopsy results posit that Hughes buried his lifelong germ phobia in his work during the early years. Still, later, it returned with a vengeance to keep him from enjoying any of his hard-won success.

Would he have been better equipped to deal with it had he taken more personal time while still having the youth and energy to heal from his past? It is hard to say.

Inspirational quote by Eleanor Roosevelt

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.Click To Tweet

Hughes’s life offers a powerful example of what happens when chronic work/life balance is neglected.

Your life experience offers you high chances to succeed, but it is also there to be enjoyed, savored, and lived. So make sure to build in some you-time to rest, relax, and celebrate the small steps.

Remember to give and receive, forgive and forget, and be a wonderful you because, amid all things, you’ve firmly resolved that you are doing to succeed.

Success is something that everyone wants to achieve in life. However, because life is complex, many people aren’t sure how to achieve success.

Success is all about your mindset. So here’s a compilation of the best inspirational and success quotes by the most successful entrepreneurs today.

Regardless of what you’re doing, there are ways to set yourself up for success.

Most people who have achieved success in the world have become successful in different ways, but they all had similar habits that helped them get there.

To that end, be sure to implement these habits of highly successful people.