9 Things Successful People Won't Do

TalentSmart has tested more than a million people and found that the upper echelons of top performance are filled with people who are high in emotional intelligence (90% of top performers, to be exact). So, I went back to the data to uncover the kinds of things that emotionally intelligent people are careful to avoid in order to keep themselves calm, content, and in control. They consciously avoid these behaviors because they are tempting and easy to fall into if one isn’t careful.

While the list that follows isn’t exhaustive, it presents nine key things that you can avoid in order to increase your emotional intelligence and performance.

They Won’t Let Anyone Limit Their Joy

When your sense of pleasure and satisfaction are derived from comparing yourself to others, you are no longer the master of your own happiness. When emotionally intelligent people feel good about something that they’ve done, they won’t let anyone’s opinions or accomplishments take that away from them.

While it’s impossible to turn off your reactions to what others think of you, you don’t have to compare yourself to others, and you can always take people’s opinions with a grain of salt. That way, no matter what other people are thinking or doing, your self-worth comes from within. Regardless of what people think of you at any particular moment, one thing is certain—you’re never as good or bad as they say you are.

They Won’t Forget

Emotionally intelligent people are quick to forgive, but that doesn’t mean that they forget. Forgiveness requires letting go of what’s happened so that you can move on. It doesn’t mean you’ll give a wrongdoer another chance. Emotionally intelligent people are unwilling to be bogged down unnecessarily by others’ mistakes, so they let them go quickly and are assertive in protecting themselves from future harm.

They Won’t Die in the Fight

Emotionally intelligent people know how important it is to live to fight another day. In conflict, unchecked emotion makes you dig your heels in and fight the kind of battle that can leave you severely damaged. When you read and respond to your emotions, you’re able to choose your battles wisely and only stand your ground when the time is right.

They Won’t Prioritize Perfection

Emotionally intelligent people won’t set perfection as their target because they know it doesn’t exist. Human beings, by our very nature, are fallible. When perfection is your goal, you’re always left with a nagging sense of failure, and you end up spending your time lamenting what you failed to accomplish and what you should have done differently instead of enjoying what you were able to achieve.

They Won’t Live in the Past

Failure can erode your self-confidence and make it hard to believe you’ll achieve a better outcome in the future. Most of the time, failure results from taking risks and trying to achieve something that isn’t easy. Emotionally intelligent people know that success lies in their ability to rise in the face of failure, and they can’t do this when they’re living in the past. Anything worth achieving is going to require you to take some risks, and you can’t allow failure to stop you from believing in your ability to succeed. When you live in the past, that is exactly what happens, and your past becomes your present, preventing you from moving forward.

They Won’t Dwell on Problems

Where you focus your attention determines your emotional state. When you fixate on the problems that you’re facing, you create and prolong negative emotions and stress, which hinders performance. When you focus on actions to better yourself and your circumstances, you create a sense of personal efficacy that produces positive emotions and improves performance. Emotionally intelligent people won’t dwell on problems because they know they’re most effective when they focus on solutions.

They Won’t Hang Around Negative People

Complainers are bad news because they wallow in their problems and fail to focus on solutions. They want people to join their pity party so that they can feel better about themselves. People often feel pressure to listen to complainers because they don’t want to be seen as callous or rude, but there’s a fine line between lending a sympathetic ear and getting sucked into their negative emotional spiral. You can avoid getting drawn in only by setting limits and distancing yourself when necessary. Think of it this way: if a person were smoking, would you sit there all afternoon inhaling the second-hand smoke? You’d distance yourself, and you should do the same with complainers. A great way to set limits is to ask complainers how they intend to fix a problem. The complainer will then either quiet down or redirect the conversation in a productive direction.

They Won’t Hold Grudges

The negative emotions that come with holding onto a grudge are actually a stress response. Just thinking about the event involved sends your body into fight-or-flight mode. When a threat is imminent, this reaction is essential to your survival, but when a threat is ancient history, holding onto that stress wreaks havoc on your body and can have devastating health consequences over time. In fact, researchers at Emory University have shown that holding onto stress contributes to high blood pressure and heart disease. Holding onto a grudge means you’re holding onto stress, and emotionally intelligent people know to avoid this at all costs. Learning to let go of a grudge will not only make you feel better now but can also improve your health.

They Won’t Say Yes Unless They Really Want To

Research conducted at the University of California in San Francisco shows that the more difficulty that you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout, and even depression. Saying no is indeed a major challenge for most people. “No” is a powerful word that you should not be afraid to wield. When it’s time to say no, emotionally intelligent people avoid phrases like “I don’t think I can” or “I’m not certain.” Saying no to a new commitment honors your existing commitments and gives you the opportunity to successfully fulfill them.

Written by Travis Bradberry, Ph.D.

5 Personality Traits That Every Investor Looks For

Before committing to your company, investors will want to know that 

their money is in capable hands. These are the personality traits that they'll 

be looking for.

You can have the best business plan in the world at your back, but if you lack a personality that suggests a good investment, investors are not going to want to give you their money. There are certain personality traits that maximize your chance of getting the investor on board:

Responsibility

Someone who's not in a lot of debt, has good credit, and has at least a modest number of assets to his or her name is someone investors will want to partner with. Proven responsibility demonstrates that you are good at managing money and that their investment will be a successful one with someone so capable at the helm.

Attentiveness

Attention to detail, eye contact, and a strong handshake are all important when you're presenting your business to potential investors. Showing that you pay attention to even the tiniest little details will tell your investors that No. 1, you care about your business enough to remember even the small things for your meeting with them, and No. 2, that you will catch any large problems well before they have a chance to affect your business, effectively staving off a disaster.

Calculated Risk-Taking

Although risk-taking can sometimes be a characteristic of reckless behavior, it can also be a sign of great confidence. As the saying goes, with no risk comes no reward. If an individual has proven to be responsible, risk-taking can actually be seen as a good thing from a potential investor because it shows that the entrepreneur is not afraid of going into uncharted waters with a plan to bring in some extra return.

Realism

This is attractive to investors because it proves that you have faith in your product--and things to back up that faith. Going on faith alone is deadly to any good investment, as hope does not bring in profits; rather, good solid solutions to marketplace problems bring in profits. When you show investors that you have your feet on the ground and are firmly planted in what needs to be done to make a business work, you will have caught their attention--as too many small business owners rely on hope or head-in-the clouds fanciful ideas to keep their business running.

Tempered Confidence

This definitely goes hand in hand with realism, as you cannot have one without the other. Obviously, knowing how difficult a market can be is good for business because you know what to plan for, but being down on yourself and overworrying are only going to lead to failure in addition to giving off the vibe to investors that you are overwhelmed by your business, and therefore prone to mismanage it. On the other hand, overconfidence shows that you are simply cocky, and may have problems adapting when need be, which are signs of a personality trait that investors will want to avoid at all costs. At the end of the day, having just the appropriate level of confidence in yourself and your business will yield the best results for your investment meeting.

From Inc. Magazine

Young Millionaires: How These Entrepreneurs Under 30 Are Changing the World

Young people today don't just sit around and think about changing the world to suit their purposes--they do it. They may be inexperienced, but they're fearless when it comes to tackling long-stagnant business models and technologies with fresh new approaches-- ones that align with their internet upbringing and their expectation that commodities and information be transparent and easily shared. What might seem naive or reckless to the old-school regime is simply business as usual to big-dreaming upstarts who've been raised on the belief that they can accomplish anything they set their minds to.

Occasionally, this boldness translates to major profits-- and that is the case with this year's crop of Young Millionaires, who have found dizzying success before the age of 30. They're breathing new life into industries and functions that have been unchanged seemingly forever: car rentals, wardrobe staples, even the simple act of typing on keyboards. They may be young, but we expect them to have influence that lasts.

Rewriting the Smartphone Keyboard at Age 28

With his startup SwiftKey, Jon Reynolds is breathing new life into the act of typing on a keyboard.

Building a Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing Network at Age 27

With her startup Getaround, Jessica Scorpio is connecting individual car owners with renters.

Turning Time Into Currency at Age 23

With his startup Kiip, Brian Wong is connecting consumers with brands by rewarding engagement.

Providing Affordable Luxury-Quality Clothing to the Masses at Age 29

With his startup Everlane, Michael Preysman is cutting out the middleman markups from high quality fashion.

From Entrepreneur

Here’s How Your Clothing Affects Your Success

Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design/flickr

How you dress affects more than you might think.

Whether you like it or not, your clothing communicates — and it can have a serious effect on your ability to achieve success.

"Let's be clear: In the big picture of ultimate reality, what you wear neither defines who you are as a person nor determines your value as a human being," says Darlene Price, president of Well Said, Inc., and author of "Well Said! Presentations and Conversations That Get Results." "However, in the temporal realm of mere mortals, fair or not, people judge us by the way we look and that includes the way we dress." Especially in the workplace, clothing significantly influences how others perceive you and how they respond toward you, she says.

Researchers at the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) found that your appearance strongly influences other people's perception of your financial success, authority, trustworthiness, intelligence, and suitability for hire or promotion.

And, because perception is often reality, what you wear not only communicates who you are in the minds of others, but also influences your level of career advancement. 

The NRCC research also found that when you combine your appearance with communication skills, not only is others' perception of you affected, but their behavior toward you is also influenced. "Clothing plus communication skills determine whether or not others will comply with your request, trust you with information, give you access to decision makers, pay you a certain salary or fee for contracted business, hire you, or purchase your products and services," she says.

Here are seven tips to ensure your clothing has a positive impact on your success:

Don't show too much skin. That means no short skirts, strapless tops, or shoes that barely cover your feet.

Never wear dirty clothes. This seems obvious — but plenty of people think they can get away with wearing that dirty shirt just one more time before bringing it to the dry cleaners. News flash: You can't. 

Don't wear wrinkled clothing. Heard of an iron? Use it. You'll look neat and way more put together.

Wear clothes that fit you well. "Tailoring is a simple way to make clothes way more flattering," writes BI's retail editor Ashley Lutz. 

Don't overdo it on the makeup or jewelry.

She says it'll give you a polished look, and those around you will perceive you differently. So, stay away from clothing that is too tight or too baggy.

Always follow the dress code (or dress one step above). 

Wear appropriate shoes and accessories. Don't wear jewelry that is too flashy or obnoxious — and always wear comfortable shoes that are appropriate for work. Also, if you wear makeup, don't overdo it! 

Don't wear shorts. In some workplaces it's perfectly acceptable for women and men to wear shorts. But, if you really want to portray yourself as a professional, steer clear.  

"To achieve career advancement, avoid an unprofessional image that may enslave your career to others' misperceptions," Price says. "Instead, choose clothing that accurately reflects your credibility and ensures you 'sell for what you're worth.' Make sure your 'exterior' earns you a 'silent recommendation,'" she concludes. 

From Business Insider

The Most Powerful Ways to Start a Presentation

The science is clear: People make decisions on the basis of first impressions.

As speakers, we need to take advantage of that.

Some years ago, Nalini Ambady, an experimental psychologist at Harvard University, was curious about the nonverbal aspects of good teaching. She wanted to get at least a minute of film on each teacher to be rated, play the tapes without sound for outside observers, and then have those observers rate the effectiveness of the teachers by their expressions and physical cues.

She could only get 10 seconds worth of tape and thought she would have to abandon the project. But her adviser encouraged her to try anyway, and with 10 seconds of tape, the observers rated the teachers on a 15-item checklist of personality traits.

In fact, when Ambady cut the clips back to five seconds and showed them to other raters, the ratings were the same. They were even the same when she showed still other raters just two seconds of videotape. It seemed that anything beyond that first impression was superfluous.

Ambady's next step led to an even more remarkable conclusion. She compared those snap judgments about teacher effectiveness with evaluations made after a full semester of classes, by students of the same teachers. The correlation between the two, she found, was astoundingly high. A person watching a two-second silent video clip of a teacher he has never met will reach conclusions about how good that teacher is that are very similar to those of a student who sits in the teacher's class for an entire semester.

Tricia Prickett, an undergraduate at the University of Toledo, conducted a similar experiment. She collected videotapes of 20-minute job interviews in order to test the adage that "the handshake is everything." She took 15 seconds of videotape showing the applicant as he or she knocks on the door, comes in, shakes the hand of the interviewer, sits down, and is welcomed by the interviewer.

Like Ambady, she then got a series of strangers to rate the applicants on the basis of the handshake clip, using the same criteria that the interviewers had used for the original 20-minute interviews. Once more, against all expectations, the ratings were very similar to those of the interviewers. On nine out of the 11 traits on which the applicants were being judged, the 15-second observers predicted the outcome of the 20-minute interview.

The question is: Are first impressions good predictors because they are accurate, or are they simply more influential than subsequent (and contradictory) impressions? Do we see deeply quickly, or are we leaping to conclusions about people and ignoring evidence that contradicts our mental shorthand?

It turns out that our first impressions are not altogether accurate. Scientists call our tendency to leap to judgment the Fundamental Attribution Error. It's an error because how a person behaves in one situation is not an accurate predictor of her behavior in a different situation. We vastly underestimate the role of context in controlling human behavior and instead base our judgments on extremely limited information.

Nevertheless, as speakers, we can take advantage of this human frailty. When we step to the front of the room to deliver a presentation and all eyes are on us, we can take control using the tools at our disposal: physical, vocal, and verbal skills meant to capture the mind of the listener.

There are infinite ways to do this. Here are just a few:

• Walk to the front of the room, your body filled with purpose.
• Arrange your materials with concentrated and silent grace.
• Take up your position, stand still with your weight on both feet, and gaze intently at the audience.
• Let the silence become the blank canvas on which you will paint your masterpiece.
• Pick a listener in the back of the room, look that individual in the eye, and deliver your opening line with confidence to that individual.

There are many types of opening lines, too.

A simple statement of your main theme or premise

For instance, Seth Godin gave a speech saying that marketing technical products was too important to leave to marketers. He began his speech by saying, "Marketing technical products is too important to leave to marketers." Pretty good summary headline, don't you think?

Asking for an audience response

"How many of you have ever wondered where your next meal is coming from?" And then wait for the hands to go up, or not.

A brief, gripping description of a problem faced by the audience

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem. Our sales data is locked up in the laptops of our salespeople, and we can't get it out."

Painting a picture of the audience's world when the problem has gone away

"I wish you could have seen me. I had finished the presentation. People were standing and applauding, and my boss came up and said that was the best talk he'd ever seen. All my work had paid off. I was literally a changed person--loose, relaxed, and bubbling with all the attention."

Pointing out what you and your listeners have in common

"I am a professional speaker. I get paid for my performance. I believe you get paid for the same thing, except your performance lasts a year and mine only lasts an hour. Nevertheless, I stand on a stage, you sit at a desk, but we both get paid to perform."

A startling statement

"Every hour in Gaza, a child is dying from artillery fire and missiles."

Telling a story

"About a mile into the woods, my childhood friends and I discovered a hill that was covered with tall, dead trees..."

A personal anecdote

"I called a friend of mine and his answering machine said, 'Sorry, memory is full. Goodbye.' It made me think that many people are so preoccupied these days that they have no time, no space, no ability to listen."

Using a visual aid or prop

"This is a silicon wafer. It is made of one of the most common commodities in the world: sand!"

Using a famous quotation

"Acquisition of skills requires a regular environment, an adequate opportunity to practice, and rapid and unequivocal feedback about the correctness of thoughts and actions."

--Daniel Kahneman, Princeton psychology professor and Nobel laureate in economics

Starting with an intellectual puzzle

"We're always reading that there are literally millions of undiscovered insects in the Amazon rainforest. I'm completely stumped by the variety of creatures that show up on my front porch in suburban New Jersey. Who are they? What are their names? And why on earth are they knocking on my door?"

Using an analogy

"Public speaking is like splitting logs. You have to hit 'em where it counts, be sharp about it, and take a balanced stand on the issues."

If our listeners insist on attributing to us those qualities they glimpse in the first few seconds of our talks, despite subsequent evidence to the contrary, let us employ all means at our disposal to take advantage of their leap to judgment. Let us be masters of body language and wizards of the opening salvo. For speakers, it seems, all's well that begins well!

From Inc. Magazine

Competitive Advantage: What Makes Your Products Different

All marketing and sales strategy is based on differentiation.  It is based on showing your customers exactly how your products and services are different from and better than any other competitive products or services offered in the marketplace.

What is your competitive advantage?

What do you do or offer that makes your products or services superior to that of your competitors?

What is your area of excellence?

Competitive Advantage: Why is it Important?

To survive and grow, every product and service offering must have some clear, distinct competitive advantage over its competitors in the marketplace.

Competitive advantage is the key to sales success and high profitability.  It is absolutely essential that you are excellent in some specific area that customers value.  You have to be able to say to your customers that, “We offer the very best for you in this critical area.”

Everyone in your organization should know exactly where, why and how your company and product or service is superior to every other competitor in the market.  If you are not clearly superior than your competitors somewhere and somehow, in a market-specific area, then all that you can hope for is survival, if that.

Differentiation Strategies: Make Your Products Different

Differentiation strategies make your product offerings stand out from your competitors’ products in a way that your customers will say: “This is a better product or service for me than anything else that is being offered.”

You define your competitive advantage, the reason for buying your products or services, in terms of the benefits, results or outcomes that your customer will enjoy from purchasing your product or service that they would not fully enjoy from purchasing the product or service of your competitor.

Discovering, developing and promoting your “area of uniqueness,” is the most vital factor in market leadership and superior profitability.  This is sometimes called your “unique selling proposition.”  It is something that you offer that your customer values, that no other competitor can offer and which makes your product or service a more attractive choice than anything else that is available.

Competitive Advantage: The Importance of Clarity

Clarity is the most important word in this area.  What is your competitive advantage today?  What will your competitive advantage be in the future?  What should your competitive advantage be if you want to stand out from your competitors?  What could your competitive advantage be if you want to lead your industry in sales and profitability?  And most important, what changes will you have to make immediately to develop and maintain a competitive advantage that enables you to achieve market supremacy?

Your Unique Selling Proposition: The Top 20% of Businesses

This unique selling proposition should be made clear in all of your promotional materials.  It becomes the heart or core of all of your advertising and marketing efforts.  It is the single message that you strive to convey to your potential customers in every way possible.

Marketing success comes from your continually thinking about achieving and maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage.  This is the critical focus for every successful business.  All companies that achieve clear differentiation from their competition, eventually move up into the top 20 percent.

If you do not have competitive advantage, if your product or service is a “me too” product or service, then the only way that you can sell it is by reducing the price.  Soon you enter into the other 80 percent of businesses who are also racing to the bottom by reducing the price.  At the end of the day there is little or no profit for anyone.  Most of these companies eventually go out of business because they cannot survive.

Convincing Your Customers That Your Product is Superior

When customers buy a product or service, at the moment of purchase, they are convinced that this product or service is superior to any other competitive offering, and is therefore the best choice for them. This conclusion may be based on reality or on perceptions created by advertising and promotion or other factors. But every customer buys only when he or she is convinced that their purchase is the very best decision that they can make at that time, all things considered.

Conclusion

The best strategy for you and your company is to focus on improving the quality of your product or service so that it is universally recognized as being superior to anything else available.  Once you have achieved this perception, you will sell more, at higher prices, easier, at a lower cost of customer acquisition, and will enjoy greater repeat sales and referrals than with any other strategy.

Written by Brian Tracy

5 Mistakes I've Made So You Don't Have To

I like to tell people I've made so many mistakes as an entrepreneur that I can't help but succeed from this point on. Unfortunately, that isn't true. No matter how many mistakes one makes as an entrepreneur, there are more ways to fail than can fit into a lifetime. As Jason Fried has pointed out, failure is overrated.

While failure may be overrated, that doesn't mean you shouldn't learn from it when it happens. You're that much better off if you can learn from the mistakes someone else has made, rather than having to make them yourself. As the proverb goes, "A wise man learns by the experience of others; a fool, by his own." In that sense I may be a fool, but if I am, I'm offering you the chance to be wise and learn from my mistakes rather than repeating them.

In my years as an entrepreneur I've made enough mistakes to fill a book (which I'm working on), but here are five of the larger ones:

Ignoring wise advice. I've had some great mentors over the years. It's a pity that when I most needed to heed their advice, I ignored it. I'm sure it pained them to see me make mistakes they had told me how to avoid. But I was stubborn and thought I knew better. If you don't have a mentor who tells you when you're wrong -- get one, and listen to him or her.

Choosing the wrong partner. I started a business and brought on two partners. They were both good guys, but they weren't the right guys. One of them I brought on after only knowing him for 10 minutes. By the time we parted ways I figured the mistake I had made was having partners, and I spent the next 10 years with no partner. Two years ago I decided I needed a partner again. After a year-long search and a test period, I found the right one and it has made an amazing difference in my business. When I say "amazing," I mean our monthly revenues have doubled in the past four months and we're on track to double again in the next four.

Being too easily satisfied. For years my business would grow, plateau, retreat, and then the process would start over again. I never got past a certain point. It was because I was too easily satisfied, and felt like I could take a break. I learned firsthand the truth in the saying that if you're not growing, you're dying. If you ever become satisfied with where you are, you either need to set loftier goals or change your line of work.

Borrowing from the IRS. About 10 years ago I reached a point in my business where money would come in from a client, and I had the choice to give employees their paychecks on time, or pay the IRS. If I paid the IRS, the employees would quit, I wouldn't be able to continue providing services and I would go out of business. If I paid the employees, the IRS would eventually come after me, but perhaps by that time things would have turned around and I could pay them off.

Let me make myself clear -- if you find yourself in this situation, pay the IRS first. You've heard of a loan shark breaking a borrower's kneecaps when a loan wasn't paid on time? Based on my experience "borrowing" from the IRS, I'd rather borrow from a loan shark. At least you can reason with a loan shark.

Getting in debt. Better yet, follow Dave Ramsey's advice and don't borrow from anyone. You can get in debt as fast as you can spend money, but you only get out as fast as you have profits. Even with a small-service business, it's easy to rack up $500,000 in debt and have nothing to show for it, and a very long horizon for paying it all off. Trust me, I was there, and it's not a fun place. Debt allowed me to cover up a lot of mistakes, and it wasn't until the well dried up that I had to fix those problems and make my business successful. Looking back, I wish I never would have taken on any debt at all, because it would have forced me to be wiser from day one.

These days I make fewer mistakes than I used to, but much of my ability to dodge bad situations comes from painful experiences. Take my advice -- it's better to learn by watching someone else make the mistakes.

From Entrepreneur