What do successful women have in common? Here are 5 of their top traits.
It’s a no kind of a no brainer to say, ambitious, determined women already have a lot of smarts. But sometimes, we are too smart for our own good. It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the ingredients for success and achievement is all about the skills or knowledge you have. Because by thinking this way, if we’re hitting roadblocks we make it mean that we need to just get another qualification or learn another skill to reach our goals. And by doing this, we tend to overlook what a key part our character, personality traits and way of thinking play in our future upward trajectory.
So what are the top personality traits of a successful woman?
Well, I guess that’s a subjective thing in part. But in my personal experience building a business and in the years I’ve spent coaching ambitious women, here are five traits that I think are essential to cultivate and actually put into practice!
#1 A successful woman defines what that actually looks like
Seems obvious, but until I was about 35 I wasn’t so clear on this and neither are many of my clients. I believe that true success comes from living in accordance with your values, otherwise achievement will simply at best feel hollow and at worst burn you out. If you find yourself thinking a lot about the things you ‘should’ do, that’s a sure sign you’re operating in accordance with an agenda (real or perceived) that isn’t yours. Spend some time to understand what truly drives you and what you really need to grow and flourish personally and professionally. Then you can build truly sustainable success from the inside out.
#2 A successful woman’s performance matches her ambition
Ambition is not enough if your personal performance lets you down. Your ambition needs to be executed in the real world through your ability to focus and take action efficiently. It’s not necessary to act like an Olympic athlete deep in training, nor are you expected to be perfect. But your performance is what’s really at the heart of your daily success. Simple habits and routines that help you maintain energy, put your attention in the right place, be present and think clearly are the building blocks of achieving the things that others can’t or won’t achieve because they don’t take charge of the way they show up everyday. As the saying goes, lead yourself first.
#3 A successful woman is detached from outcomes
Nothing is ever guaranteed, but when the stakes are high we like to think that the tighter we hang on to outcomes the more chance we have of making them happen. And anyway, wouldn’t letting go be the same as giving up? Ultimately, we have no control over outcomes. But we are in control of who we are and how we conduct ourselves every step we take along the way. (See point 1)
#4 A successful woman takes the long view
Building a business can be really, really hard. Ditto paying your dues up the corporate ladder. It’s tempting to catastrophise when we hit a roadblock or suffer a failure. But it’s important to be able to zoom out and see these peaks and troughs in the context of your overall trajectory. Take the long view so you can play the long game. Patience, (and persistence) after all, are virtues!
#5 A successful women never entertains resentment or guilt
Resentment and guilt are poison to authentic success. If you feel these emotions you may want to revisit point 1 of this article to understand what message is contained within these feelings showing up. Life, work and the rest is all a a constantly shifting juggle. And the best we can do is take responsibility for the part we play in things. And that means speaking up clearly, expressing our needs, being assertive when we have something to say and, dare I say it, letting ourselves off the hook when it doesn’t work out.
Ultimately, true success is driven from your willingness to commit to who you want to be consistently in order to do your best to create the outcomes you’d like to have.
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