Everyone wants to be successful in life. Rarely would you find a person who wouldn’t want success and is happy with their life just the way it is. There is something about success and successful people that is very alluring.

Well, that might have to do with our needs as human beings. According to Abraham Maslow’s need hierarchy theory, the need to grow and realize one’s full potential is the highest level in the hierarchy of human needs. Everyone wants to be able to look back at their lives and have a sense of achievement, that their lives meant something and was not a waste.

Success is often equated with being rich but that’s only one part of it. To me, being successful means achieving your dreams and living a life that you always wished to live, even if that means living in a cabin at the edge of a lake in a forest.

Today I was watching some old episodes of Shark Tank, a popular reality TV show, which has some of the most successful people there as investors, and I noticed a lot of things different about them which are probably what makes them so successful, and I want to talk about these today.

1. They Assess The Situation Really Fast

So, one of the things that you will find common with successful people is that no matter what situation they are presented with, they are able to access the ins and outs of it really quickly.

They have a sense of clarity and their experience and knowledge help them to notice things and minute details that most people would most likely miss. This gives them a really big advantage.

Assessing the situation faster than others also give them a first mover advantage, since they can already start taking action while others are still figuring stuff out. It’s literally like a race.

2. They Grind It Out!

Hard work is another common factor that you will find in most successful people. In the world that is obsessed with instant gratification, people dream of overnight success and get demoralized when that doesn’t happen.

The fact is, there is no alternative of hard work. Most of the times you just have to grind it out and give your 150% and do things you would have never imagined yourself to be capable of, to reach that pinnacle.

Read about the stories of some of these successful people and you will realize how tough their journey has been and how much they had to sacrifice and compromise in order to be where they are today. That should also serve as a huge inspiration for you.

3. They Have Razor Sharp Focus

I can’t stress how important this quality is. You don’t need to look far and wide to realize that focused people are usually some of the most successful people out there. Just take a look at your friends circle or colleagues.

In fact, this was Steve Jobs’ advice to all the people who wanted to do something with lives. When he returned to Apple in the late 90s, he killed off most of the products that Apple was making at that time so that the company could focus on a very limited amount of products.

As we all know, that has been a huge reason for Apple’s success which was about to go bankrupt at that time. Being focused allows you to stay away from distractions which only cause delays in your journey.

4. They Are Fearless

Dreaming big is scary. And actually going out to achieve it is even scarier. But successful people (or would be successful people) are fearless. They just see the end goal and nothing else.

It doesn’t matter to them how many times they fall along the way as long as they are moving towards that end vision. It doesn’t matter if at times they are even crawling, as long as they keep moving.

Failures along the way or other people’s negative opinions don’t scare them. In their heart, they know that they will somehow reach there and they have the courage to keep going no matter what.