All of us want to be successful in some capacity or another as it is something that most of us aspire to because we have ambition, goals, dreams, and drive. For some, success is being able to spend time with their family by not having to work a forty-hour work week, while for others, it is having the top-tier career that pays out more money than they could ever need. Success could just be as simple as hitting your goals, being happy with your accomplishments, or getting yourself to a place where you are truly healthy and thriving. The thing about success though, is that it takes hard work, time, perseverance, and persistence. To become successful, one must incorporate the following characteristics into their routine.

1. You Must Engage In Hard Work: success is something that must be earned through hard work. If success is handed to you, it provides no value because it means you learned nothing in the moments leading up to it. Life is not one success after another, after another but rather a lot of failures leading up to one or two great successes that are hard earned.
2. You Must Learn From Mistakes: any route to success is fraught with interruptions, detours, backpedalling, and obstacles. Use these moments to learn from your mistakes, as it is failure that allows you to move forward with a clearer idea of the right direction to take towards success. After all, if you give up after a failure or choose to repeat mistakes without learning from them, you will not reach success.
3. Always Choose to Endure If You Can: along with always doing your best and learning from any mistakes you make, it is almost important to endure through hardships. This is where you must use persistence to get through the task, project, or goal that is difficult and lengthy. The idea here is to keep plugging away at what it is you are working on even if it seems painfully slow, because eventually, you will get there. Does this mean you shouldn’t modify goal? Not necessarily, just make sure that if you do modify the goal, you stick with the original premise of it.
4. Never Create Excuses: when you are faced with obstacles, injustices, and difficulties, it can be very easy to fall into the trap of feeling sorry for yourself. Yes, you should take some time to re-calibrate yourself, but do not allow these difficulties be the reason you choose to make excuses about why you haven’t followed through on your goals, ambitions, or dreams. To be successful, you must move ahead and learn from the experience.
5. Let Go Of Materialism: if the only thing driving your motivation to obtain success is materialism, it won’t be enough to get you all the way. Successful people make it to the top because they change other peoples’ lives, they change their own lives, and they make an impact. If you are only in it for the nice cars or the big pay cheque, you’ll find yourself always being a victim of lifestyle creep. Find an intrinsic motivator instead.
6. Rise and Shine With The Sun: or with the moon, depending on when you work best. Figure out the time of day that you are most productive in. Work hard during that time. This could be during early morning walks at five in the morning or it could be at two in the morning after the moon has come up. Remember that you must work smart, so work when your body has the most energy to be productive.
7. Keep Yourself Physically Active: being physically active not only boosts your health but it also enhances focus, improves alertness, and creates greater blood-flow to the brain. This helps you keep a clear head that is focused on the goal ahead. Do not allow yourself to become bogged down by negative thought-patterns or distracting thoughts. Keep your eye on the prize by staying physically active.
8. Find a Powerful, Driving Force: one of the most powerful forces in this world is our insecurities because they provide us with motivation. They drive us to prove that we are capable, successful, and worthy of what we want, regardless of what that is. Use your strongest desires to help you become that driving force you need to be to remain focused and motivated on your dreams.
9. Relentlessly Study Hard: do not become a drone and go through the motions on a day to day basis. Do not allow yourself to become so burnt out that you no longer care about learning more, discovering more about your dreams. Study your craft, master it, and always keep yourself in a position where you are learning. This will lead you to accomplishing greatness because you will have the knowledge and know-how to help you along the way.
10. Take Risks for Your Passions: if you do not take risks, there will be no reward, as the saying goes. Those who are successful, lay it all on the line for what they are passionate about. Although this will take a lot of guts, bravery, and will power, it is what you ultimately need to do, especially if you believe in what you are doing. Do not let fear stop you from achieving what you are passionate about.

In addition to the above points, make sure to take time to learn new perspectives and understand the world from different viewpoints. In doing this, not only do you learn new things about the world but you will be able to use your new understanding to create better routes to success. It is important to be humble and to accept that achieving things requires a good understanding of how to get there, which can come from a majority of sources. To truly be successful, you must be the best person you can possibly be.