Success? What Qualities and Characteristics

¶ … Success? What Qualities and Characteristics Define Success? What are the qualities and characteristics of success? There are many opinions on this topic, many ways to look at the question, and many different kinds of success can be brought into a discussion.

Two psychology professors from the University of Maine, Scott Eidelman and Monica Biernat, used a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study the subject, "Getting More From Success: Standard Raising as Esteem Maintenance." Their results, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, show that first of all, people tend to believe their successful achievements "spring from ability," but their failures can be attributed to "external forces." So in other words, when they succeed it's because they have the ability but when they don't have success, it's not their fault.

Moreover, Eidelman and Biernat's research shows that raising one's standards through "ability and effort" is the best way to find pride and satisfaction during the successful completion of a project. Talented actress Laura Linney is in a new movie called "The Savages"; Linney's part is that of a "completely self-serving" liar who cheats, steals, is emotionally immature and is having an affair with a married man. The film's director, Tamara Jenkins was interviewed (Olsen, 2007) by the Los Angeles Times.

Jenkins said Linney was chosen for the part because she has the "unique skill" of being able to master the "flawed, messy humor" of the role and "would also be able to connect to the pathos of it." In this case, success is measured by how well an actor can take a difficult role, one very unlike the life of that actor, and make it work well on the screen.

Linney said she has "earned every little baby step" along the way to success, and that though she is not "a superstar," there is "a little bit of recognition" (fame and success) and with that success she is careful as to how to handle it. You don't "belittle yourself" when you goof up, but also you don't "self-aggrandize yourself" when you get praise, she said.

And the success brings with it territory that "...is much more treacherous than anything you're going to deal with on a set." The famous blind writer, Hellen Keller, took several steps to success in her life, and her steps were presented on the Web site "Secrets of Success" by Dr. Marvin P. Kehler, a former President of Campus Crusade for Christ and a successful minister and inspirational leader.

Helen Keller believe that to have success you have to "set goals"; she wanted to go to college and because she set that goal, she made it.

"Don't let obstacles stop you," she wrote, and "Don't let others tell you what you can't do." She recommends pursuing an education, having a "thirst for knowledge," living a life "of faith" and being unselfish enough to "help others." The other two important steps to success according to Helen Keller are "make your own decisions" and "dare to do the impossible." It was considered an impossible task for a blind woman to go to college when Helen Keller was young, but she dared to do it, and she succeeded.

Another success story that Dr. Kehler writes about in his book and on his Web site is that of Oprah Winfrey. She is one of the richest women in the world, a very popular television talk show host, and she has reached a level of success that few have ever even hoped for, let along completed.

She says "Don't let others define you or tell you what you can't do." She grew up in a poor environment and might have wound up working in a factory, if she had listened to others. Two, she says "Take responsibility for your life"; three, she says to "Embrace God" which is her own personal spiritual idea but no doubt there are millions of successful people who don't go to church or.