How Can You Become One of the Successful Types?

I once interviewed a woman who told me about how she turned her life around, moved from a dead-end job into a fulfilling life of helping other people. As I spoke with her I was struck with the similarities in stories that I’ve heard from a number of successful people. “I had to break away from my old friends and coworkers because to them, this was life. There was no other. And I knew that my life was a whole lot more than waiting tables in a little cafe.” Successful people are very different from unsuccessful people. People who are stuck in their rut tend to repeat the same things over and over. Successful people avoid saying these things at all cost.

1. “Not Possible.” This is the battle cry of the unsuccessful. The believe that if they can’t do it, then no one can. On the contrary, successful people haven’t met a challenge they aren’t willing to meet. The successful person has a never-ending “can-do” attitude that carries them from one success to the next.

2. “I’ll Do it Alone.” This is what people say when they don’t trust anyone else to do what they believe they’re best at doing. They can’t delegate. They can’t see the whole picture objective. In the end they will wind up slowing down the entire project and leaving you in a lurch because you needed their input last week and they won’t be done until next week.

3. “The Devil’s in the Details.” Another description for a nitpicker. This is the person who has an ax to grind, or a pet peeve they need to vent about, usually in as public a forum as possible. They have no intention of furthering the project, they want, even need the limelight on themselves in order to feel important. And the more they do it the more they need it because they couldn’t declare how unsuccessful they were any better.

4. “My Idea is Better.” Working as a team, to have one individual continually insist that their idea is the only one that will work says you either have a genius in your midst or you’re working with a chronic failure. The team member who believes that their idea is the only one that will work is short-sighted and a potential problem. No one is able to consider all possibilities, which makes working as a team a successful proposition.

5. “I know. I know.” When you’re a know-it-all, you proclaim to the world that you don’t. It means you’ve stopped growing, stopped learning and this is as far as you are going to go. You believe that you’re showing everyone how smart you are, but the real message to other successful people is that you have your own agenda and that is it.

Check yourself for any of these self-limiting behaviors. In order to be continually successful, you need to be open to the ideas of others and willing to see where you might have made a mistake. It’s OK, everyone makes them. Only successful people admit and learn from it.

Photo Credit: Interview Questions via Matthew Hurst at Flickr

That WON’T Be Me

So you say…until you get one.

Did you know that anytime you travel, whether by plane or automobile, if you’re traveling longer than two hours, you’re at significantly higher risk of developing a blood clot.

My first exposure to the dangers of a blood clot was on a reality television show. No, I wasn’t on it…I was watching it. It didn’t appear for more than a single season I think, but fascinated me. People traveled from all over the world to man and sail an old ship from the 1800s. As a history buff, I was fascinated with everything they had to do in order to stay true to the time period they represented.

That is until one of the crew members went to seek help from the ship’s doctor. “I’m having a little trouble breathing.” The patient was a young man in his late 20s, seemingly in excellent health, but he was having pain in his chest.

Thinking it was part of the show, I began to wonder, what could be causing his discomfort? What diseases afflicted the people sailing ships during that era?

I was wrong. I was very wrong. It’s a good think the doctor on their ship was knowledgeable and knew that her patients were not 1890s sailors, but 21st century reality show participants who traveled a great many miles to get to Australia where they gathered.

All I remember about the patient is that he did NOT want to lose his place on the crew. He had worked long and hard to be selected for his task and he was determined to see it through. If only he could breathe.

As time went on, I began to become uncomfortable. As a television viewer, I was perfectly safe. But I had enough empathy and compassion to know that their satellite phone only worked sporadically and the doctor was worried.

She had every right to be.

Her patient was suffering from a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in his lungs. It developed as a result of his flight to reach Australia the week before. And without immediate medical attention, the man would die. So, out with the 1890s reality, in with modern medicine. The man was taken off the ship by helicopter and taken swiftly to the nearest hospital where he was treated for a blood clot.

This is a much more common problem than you might think. The likelihood is still less than one-tenth of one percent, but for those who experience, it really is a matter of life or death. Travelers need to be aware that the more time they spend on an airplane, the greater the likelihood of them developing a blood clot. Take regular breaks to stretch, walk around, move in any way you can. Learn how to do chair calisthenics so that even if you’re trapped in a window seat you can mitigate the likelihood of getting a blood clot because of your travel experience.

Photo Credit:
The Travel-House via Shena Tschofen at Flickr