05/06/14 7:32 pm How To Be A Super-Achiever: The 10 Qualities That Matter - Forbes

Page 1 of 3 http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/01/16/how-to-be-a-super-achiever-the-10-qualities-that-matter/print/
http://onforb.es/1dx2LAh
LEADERSHIP 1/16/2014 @ 11:01AM 25,304 views
How To Be A Super-Achiever:
The 10 Qualities That Matter
Comment Now
The Most Common Practices Of Super-Achievers




This is an update of a story by Jenna Goudreau.
What do actor Alec Baldwin, game-show champion Ken Jennings and
baseball icon Yogi Berra have in common?
Thats what husband-and-wife duo Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield set out
to discover. For their book The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do What
They Do and How They Do It So Well, they interviewed 36 star performers
who climbed to the tops of their fields.
We didnt want to theorize about success, says Gosfield. We went straight
to the source, finding the most amazing people in all fields and asking them,
How do you do what you do?
In interviews with top achievers, including actress Laura Linney, Zappos CEO
Tony Hsieh and crossword mastermind Will Shortz, patterns emerged. No
matter how diverse their goals or crafts, these super-achievers shared many of
the same habits. How can you follow in their footsteps? These are the 10
qualities that will set you apart, say Sweeney and Gosfield.
1. Dedication to a Vision
Susan Adams Forbes Sta!
I cover careers, jobs and every aspect of leadership.
05/06/14 7:32 pm How To Be A Super-Achiever: The 10 Qualities That Matter - Forbes
Page 2 of 3 http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/01/16/how-to-be-a-super-achiever-the-10-qualities-that-matter/print/
Every great success starts with inspiration, but not every inspiration leads to
success, says Gosfield. The most common thing we found was these peoples
devotion to the day-to-day struggle. Glossy magazine success stories often
dont show the dark moments, the daily grind or flagging energy that super-
achievers endure to realize their goals.
2. Intelligent Persistence
One thing successful people know: Dedication and blind persistence are two
very different things. You can work hard but not smart, says Sweeney.
When somethings not working, youve got to tweak it. Some people just keep
banging their heads against the wall. Instead of doggedly using the same
ineffective tactics, super-achievers pivot and try to tackle the problem from a
different angle.
3. Fostering A Community
Star performers know they cant achieve success on their own. Instead, they
must galvanize a group of people around their idea or goal. Teamwork, or
having an ecosystem of supporters, turns out to be essential. It doesnt just
include partners and coworkers. It might also mean employees, customers,
investors, mentors, fans and social media followers. The authors quote
business guru Guy Kawasaki: First you have to create something worthy of
an ecosystem. Then pick your evangelists.
4. Listening and Remaining Open
You dont normally think of hard-charging, action-oriented leaders as being
good listeners, says Sweeney. These peoples ability to practice the art of
listening helped them learn what they needed to know about the world
around them. For example, Zappos Hsieh asked all his employees to share
their personal values so that he could incorporate them into the companys
culture. Likewise, Linney says she never accepts a role unless she has read and
reread the script so many times that she fully understands it.
5. Good Storytelling
Stories have the ability to transport people to your world, where theyre more
likely to invest in you and your brand. Philippe Petit, famous for his high-wire
walk between New York Citys Twin in the 1970s, believed other wire-walkers
were trying to make it look hard. But he wanted to be a poet in the sky and
seem effortless, Sweeney says. His narrative wasnt in words, but it was a
story he was communicating.
6. Testing Ideas in the Market
05/06/14 7:32 pm How To Be A Super-Achiever: The 10 Qualities That Matter - Forbes
Page 3 of 3 http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/01/16/how-to-be-a-super-achiever-the-10-qualities-that-matter/print/
This article is available online at: http://onforb.es/1dx2LAh
2014 Forbes.com LLC All Rights Reserved
Everybody has a bias to think their own idea is brilliant, says Gosfield.
[Achievers] roll it out in an environment thats as close as possible to the
market. Bill Gross, serial entrepreneur and founder of Idealab, always tests
before he invests. When he had an idea for an online car dealer, CarsDirect,
no one was sure if it would work. He decided to put up a test site to see what
would happen. Before he had any inventory, hed sold four cars and had to
shut down the site. On the upside, Gross then knew for a fact there was a
market for the service.
7. Managing Emotions
We found that managing emotions is a key element to success, Sweeney
says. Its so easy to be derailed by them, but these people are able to channel
anger and frustration into their work. This was an important lesson for
Jessica Watson, the Australian sailor who circumnavigated the world alone at
only 16 years old. While at sea, when loneliness or negativity set in, she would
acknowledge her emotions and remind herself that she could get past them.
You cant change conditionsjust the way you deal with them, she said.
8. Constantly Evolving
Successful people never stop learning and adapting. Tennis champion
Martina Navratilova realized this when her game suddenly started sliding.
She transformed her training routine and diet, and soon was back on track to
become an all-star athlete.
9. Practicing Patience
Inaction, or stillness, can sometimes be just as useful as action. The
importance of patience was a primary theme among the super-achievers,
whether its strategically waiting for the best time to make a move or
continuing to pursue a larger vision despite a lack of immediate rewards. Jill
Tarter, a director of the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence), has been searching for life on other planets for the last 50 years
without any guarantee of success.
10. Pursuing Happiness
Success fuels happiness, and happiness in turn fuels greater success. Jeopardy
champ Jennings, said that once he became a contestant on a game show, it
filled his entire life with passion. That happiness helped him win, and winning
ended up giving him the confidence he needed to pursue a career he loved:
writing. Seeking happiness in your life and work turns out to be a win-win.