Successful People: 3 Traits Of Highly Successful People

Successful people may achieve their success by different means and on the surface may seem very different but there are certain traits which set them apart.

And, once you know the characteristics of highly successful individuals you can develop the same traits in yourself and, in so doing, start to increase the level of success you achieve in your own life.

So here are 3 traits of highly successful people:

1. They have a need to contribute.

Successful people become wealthy because of their fervent desire to make a difference. So the business they enter and the manner in which they conduct business both lend themselves to the idea of contribution to society.

And these individuals generally grow up with the value of giving back to society instilled in them and so tithing is natural to them. In other words, they don't wait until they're wealthy to start giving back to society. It's something that they've always done and the wealthier they become the more they give.

In 2006, Warren Buffett announced that he would be donating 85% of his Berkshire Hathaway fortune which at the time was valued at over $40 billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Ironically, Bill Gates said that it was Warren Buffett who "inspired" their thinking about philanthropy. The Foundation is the largest in the world even before the Buffett's generous gift.

You may think that it's easy for someone as wealthy as Warren Buffett to make donations to charity but this is something he has been doing for years. He set up the Buffet Foundation (now the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation) back in the 1960s when he was on a salary of about $50,000 a year.

2. They are very energetic.

Take Bob Proctor for example. He recently celebrated his 75th birthday. Yet he is as active as ever - teaching, coaching, mentoring, organising personal development cruises, conducting seminars, creating new products and the list simply goes on and on. What he manages to accomplish in a day would exhaust many people half his age. He is an avid believer of the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote:

"Do the thing and you will get the energy to do the thing."

And he certainly lives this. Another, person who symbolises energy is Sir Richard Branson. From Virgin Health Bank to Virgin Galactic he tirelessly promotes his many businesses and causes that he supports. He is the face of Virgin and he epitomises the Virgin Brand.

However, Sir Richard Branson is more than an entrepreneur. In addition to his numerous and diverse business ventures he's an adventurer as well. For instance, he has set various records for crossing the Atlantic and the Pacific in a hot air balloon.

There are some people who want to be successful but they are just so lethargic. They way they move, they way they speak and their input into whatever they do all lack energy. They'll never achieve major success like this.

3. They make decisions quickly and change their minds slowly.

Successful people have complete clarity about what they want and this is one of the factors that empowers them to make decisions quickly. They also know what they don't want. In addition, they know the importance of taking action to achieve success and the thing is, you cannot take action on something until you make a decision.

So they make speedy decisions and so that they can quickly take action. Take Internet Marketer Russell Brunson. Russell Brunson recently made the decision to take up wrestling again and train for the 2012 London Olympic Games. This meant semi-retiring from his multi-million Internet Marketing business - a big decision in of itself.

However, once he made that decision he quickly hired one of the world's best Greco-Roman wrestling coaches, bought a building which he could convert into a gym for himself and others to train, and offered World Bronze Medallist Justin Ruiz what was effectively a training scholarship to become his training partner.

Now clearly it helped that Russell Brunson had the financial resources to implement these actions but it's the mindset of being decisive that has helped him to achieve the level of success he has accomplished. And, by being so decisive he also effectively cut off any avenues that would allow him to backtrack on his decision.

You too can adopt these traits and reap the reward of achieving greater success in life.