Is being successful about having a growth mindset or being able to delay gratification or having the best social skills? Quality research and brilliant minds support these “successful cause-and-effect” scenarios and more. But, does being successful have to be about one thing or another…or can being successful be attributed to something else entirely?
How about thinking of being successful and the habits that enable success as being about many things…a collection of or an accumulation of things…a this AND that, instead of an either this or that template.
Here are 8 This AND That Habits that facilitate success.
1. Being polite AND willing to rock the boat. Travis Bradberry, co-author of “Emotional Intelligence 2.0”, calls people who are both polite and willing to stick out their necks “graciously disruptive.” “Gracious” because they are considerate and don’t humiliate others and “disruptive” because they are willing to challenge the status quo to make things better.
2. Being passionate AND rational about work. Successful “doers” always advise others to work at/with/for what they love…that’s the passionate part. The rational part is about being able to detach their egos from their work so they can accept others’ feedback/suggestions as well as accept their own mistakes.
3. Being convergent AND divergent thinkers. Convergent thinking is about “right” answers. Divergent thinking is about generating ideas and asking questions that have no “right” answers.
4. Being energetic AND calm. Check out Steve Jobs, again, as an example of someone who was totally energetic and passionate about his work And calm, not frantic about it. Jobs knew how to harness his energy, work hard, focus AND make it look easy so that his work served the progress of the work.
5. Making work AND play seamless. When loving what you do, brainstorming, problem solving, “grinding it out,” tweaking efforts to get to a solution are engaging, satisfying, and fun. The same elements go into playing and improving your golf swing AND into working and improving your marketing efforts.
6. Being extroverted AND introverted. Depending upon the situation/task, amplify your extroversion traits AND your introversion traits. Being as comfortable listening carefully to others in a meeting AND taking the microphone at the podium as a featured speaker is the goal.
7. Being both naïve AND smart. Here’s an exciting reality…everyone has something to learn AND everyone has something to offer. Be willing to learn AND willing to share.
8. Being humble AND proud. Being unassuming AND gratified translate into having nothing to prove. No matter what our accomplishments, we all are standing on the shoulders of those who came before us.
