Motivation logo

These 3 Traits Will Make You Unstoppable

And anyone can learn to have them...

By Brendan BlowersPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
Like
If you want to have more "mountain top" experiences, work on developing three key personality traits. 

To be successful in anything you have to have skills—that's true. However, all the skills in the world won't get you where you want to be in life until you learn to master these three crucial traits.

The good news is these traits can be applied to almost anything you do to instantly upgrade your results. Here they are:

Decisiveness

Another way to think of decisiveness is quick, determined thinking.

Being decisive gives you the ability to accomplish tasks quickly. A lot of productivity is lost being indecisive or lacking the ability to choose a course and begin.

Many people get stuck because they're afraid to make the wrong choice. Often, making any choice and committing to it completely is better than being stuck–frozen by the anxiety of overthinking an outcome.

…there are moments, particularly in times of stress, when haste does not make waste, when our snap judgments and first impressions can offer a much better means of making sense of the world.—Malcolm Gladwell

There is teaching in ancient warrior cultures that if you can't make a decision on something within the span of seven full breaths, you're probably thinking too much.

In battle, hesitation will get you killed. In your career, it will make others pass you by.

Learning to be decisive means trusting your instincts. And, if you make the wrong choice—you've actually learned a valuable lesson that could help you make the right choice faster next time.

Courage

Pop quiz: What's the opposite of fear? If you said courage, you'd be wrong.

The difference is that fear is a feeling, but courage requires action.

This also means that fear doesn't have to keep you from moving forward.

You can feel scared and still act courageously—just ask anyone who successfully got through their first public speaking presentation.

The author of 'The Way of the SEAL,' Mark Divine says, The more rapidly you can identify the type of fear you’re facing, the more easily you can overcome it. Whether it’s fear of failure, fear of not being liked, or fear of loss, understanding and embracing that fear enables you to move beyond it.

Being courageous means being able to press forward—even when things get scary or uncomfortable.

Courage is also additive—meaning the more you use it, the more you'll have.

Discipline

Everyone hears that discipline is a valuable trait, but what does it actually look like?

The purest form of discipline is self-discipline. You know what must be done to achieve a goal and you put aside comfort and pleasure to get it done.

People who are only motivated by externals like praise or threats from authority figures will stop being disciplined when they're not being monitored.

The self-disciplined person will crush their goals whether anyone notices or not.

To the self-motivated, the best rewards are internal. Which is a very resilient way to be because relying on other people's praise to stay motivated will often leave you wanting more than you're getting.

There's a myth that being self-disciplined makes people boring and not fun. The truth is, self-discipline leads to more freedom to have the time to do what you want.

Plus, when you're disciplined in your work, your free time is truly free—from the guilt of procrastination and stress of poor time management.

Being disciplined with your conscious choices is crucial because we all have undisciplined unconscious time we can't control.

Learn from people who are more disciplined than you. When it comes to self-discipline, sometimes a little peer pressure can go a long way. By making your goals public to people you trust, you create accountability—which forms an extra layer of motivation to your inner commitment.

Another great tip to encourage discipline is to build successful systems for getting things done.

“I value self-discipline, but creating systems that make it next to impossible to misbehave is more reliable than self-control.”—Tim Ferriss

Bonus tip: Be Positive!

High-achieving people are very rarely negative or self-degrading. There is a strong connection between success and positivity.

Beth Cabrera and Steve Gladis, authors of 'How Positivity Leads to Success' say, There is overwhelming evidence from research in positive psychology that people who are happy are more successful. Positivity is related to higher levels of job performance, supervisory evaluations and perceived customer service. Positive people perform better because they are more motivated and more effective.

If you want to conquer the world, first defeat your own negativity.

You Don't Have to Get There Alone

Photo by Katy Anne on Unsplash

Knowing what you need to do to be successful is one thing, actually doing it is a challenge.

Enlist some trusted friends and together make a pact to help each other on the journey of growing your decisiveness, courage, and discipline.

You and your accountability buddies should:

  1. Call each other out when you catch behavior that goes against the three traits.
  2. Enroll each other in new opportunities that will test your courage, require discipline, or reward quick decision-making.
  3. Set aside weekly time to discuss how you all are progressing and what areas you still need more work.

These are traits that anyone can improve with a little practice. You'll be amazed at the benefits you'll start to enjoy from adding more decisiveness, courage, and discipline to your daily routine.

success
Like

About the Creator

Brendan Blowers

Brendan is a former writer for Haute Living and current contributing editor to atHome magazine. He also manages communications for a Southeast-leading architecture and design firm.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.