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Friday, 28 September, 2007 1:05 PM
Want to be Successful? Then You
Need 8 To Be Great
Award-winning
writer and success analyst reveals top 8-Traits that lead to success,
wealth and greatness.
So what exactly do you
need to be a success in today’s rough and tumble world? How
about stunning good looks? A high I.Q.? Prodigal talent? No, no,
and no. Surprised? Read on. Take Martha Stewart and Michael Jordan
for example. She’s the domestic diva. He’s one of the
most legendary athletes of all time. She can tell you how to care
for hardwood floors and he knows how to work the hardwood. Their
career paths seem worlds apart, but Martha and Michael have more
in common than you might think. In fact, they have 8-Traits in common.
And they’re the same traits that most successful people share,
according to Richard St. John, award winning communicator, success
analyst and author of the new book “8 To Be Great: The 8-Traits
That Lead To Great Success” (Train of Thought Arts Inc. 2007)
St. John’s research shows that one of the traits Martha and
Michael share is unwavering dedication to the value of WORK. “When
I asked Martha Stewart what led to her success, she said, ‘I’m
a real hard worker. I work and work all the time,’”
says St. John. “Hard work also made Michael Jordan a star,
although not at first. He thought he could skate by on talent alone
and slacked off – until he was actually cut from his college
basketball team. That rude awakening changed his outlook and showed
him that, even if you have talent, hard work is what really matters.”
St. John knows a thing or two about hard work. A self-made millionaire,
his marketing communications company, The St. John Group has thrived
for more than 25 years despite the fact he “barely made it
through high school.” But the concept of what defines success
hit home during a conversation with a teenager sitting next to him
on an airplane. As he tapped away on his computer, she kept asking
him questions about his work. After deciding that St. John was a
successful businessman, she dropped the bombshell; the question
of all questions that stuck in his craw and launched him on what
became a decade long odyssey. “What REALLY leads to success?”
He admitted he didn’t know and thus, the quest began.
St. John spent 10 years researching and dissecting success. He conducted
500 personal interviews of successful people, including major celebrities
such as Martha Stewart, Richard Branson, Russell Crowe, Quincy Jones
and the Google founders, as well as people whose names you may not
recognize but who’ve achieved great things in their respective
fields. He also spent countless hours scouring additional interviews
to find more examples of what leads to success. The results of all
that painstaking research are revealed in ‘8 To Be Great.”
And what he’s discovered might surprise you.
“Believe it or not, I learned there is no one ‘secret’
to success. Many people wrongly assume you have to be exceptionally
bright to make it to the top,” says St. John. “But that’s
not the case. I’ve also discovered that you don’t have
to be beautiful or handsome. Those are all myths that many of us
have bought into and they’ve become engrained in our collective
psyche.”
After begging for (and getting!) interviews with the big names,
St. John then tackled the tedious task of combing through millions
of words to find the common denominators. He ultimately identified
the 8-Traits that successful people point to as being the foundation
for their success, wealth and greatness.
“PASSION is another trait that people point to as launching
them on the path to success,” says St. John. “Successful
people love what they do. And I’ve noticed two distinct groups—those
who’ve known from the time they were kids what they’d
do in life, and others who fall into it. I call it falling into
your calling. Following your passion is important because if you
love what you do, you’ll automatically adopt the 7 other traits
that lead to success and wealth; like work hard and persist.”
About the Author:
Richard St. John is an
author and award-winning communicator who interviewed hundreds of
people to discover what leads to success. He was featured in a one-hour
TV special for The Learning Channel. St. John has been interviewed
for numerous print articles and TV shows, including the Discovery
Channel. His marketing communications company, The St. John Group,
has thrived for over 25 years. St. John’s design and photography
work have appeared in prestigious publications such as ‘Communication
Arts.’ He has won top awards including best corporate video
and script in the world at the AMI (Association for Multi Image)
International Awards Festival. St. John has run marathons on all
seven continents and he and his wife Baiba have climbed two of the
world’s highest mountains, Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua.
Source: Event Management
Services, Inc.
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