The 7 Obsessions of Highly Successful People

When I was a teenager, I was obsessed with one thing (and it’s not what you think). I woke up thinking about it, I went to bed thinking about it, and it consumed my mind throughout the day. After school, I could not wait for it. I planned every minute of my day around it. I was obsessed…and highly successful at this one thing.

For me, that one thing was golf. And the lessons I learned reaching the top levels of that game have benefited me throughout my life.

As I’ve studied other highly successful people across all aspects of life, I’ve found that they are almost always obsessed about seven things. They are healthy obsessions that ultimately lead to success, if you are intentional about them.

1. Courage

It always starts with courage.

The courage to start.

The courage to stand out.

The courage to do something in the face of fear.

Highly successful people are always courageous.

It took courage to start my second business and it ultimately grew to more than $12 million in annual revenue and we employed 52 people. It took courage for Michael Jordan keep trying after being cut from his high school basketball team. It took courage for Thomas Edison to attempt to invent the lightbulb.

The business could have failed.

Jordan could have embarrassed himself.

Edison could have been made to look like a fool.

But they were obsessed with being courageous.

2. Commitment

Highly successful people are all-in.

As Yoda said, there is no try. There is only doing or not doing.

If you are going to reach your full potential, you must be 100% committed to whatever it is you are pursuing. There is no Plan B.

Ask yourself every day if you are committed. Are you all-in RIGHT NOW? If not, it’s time to get honest with yourself about why…which brings us to the next obsession.

3. Candor

Highly successful people are honest with themselves and others.

Are your skills in line with your dreams and goals? If not, what do you need to do about it? Do you have the right dreams and goals?

Candor with yourself means assessing your own abilities. If you are 40 years old, 5 feet tall and weigh 120 pounds, your dream of being an NFL lineman might be a little unrealistic. You need to be honest with yourself.

At the same time, if you have an employee who simply does not have the personality for sales, you need to be honest with yourself and him. That means letting him go even though you don’t want to. It means having difficult conversations with others.

Candor isn’t an occasional practice, though. It’s ongoing. Every day, you need to be honest with yourself about your performance, your goals, and your abilities.

4. Conscious Choice

Highly successful people make a conscious choice to take personal responsibility for their lives and their success.

Notice that personal responsibility is a choice. It is not something that you just wake up with one day.

The highest achievers don’t blame anyone for their situation. They don’t blame the government, dwell on the mistakes of others, or allow themselves to stay stuck in the past.

Throughout each day, their inner voice tells them that if they are to accomplish their goals for the day, it is up to them to make them happen. (No, that does not mean you have to do all the work, but you are responsible for those who work for you!)

If you want to reach your highest potential, take responsibility for your life. You might check out the book, QBQ, as a rock solid resource to help you do that.

Highly successful people make a conscious choice to take personal responsibility for their lives and their success.

5. Continual Self-Improvement

Highly successful people are obsessive about learning. Learning and experience leads to competence.

You might be the best in the world at what you do right now, but what are you doing to get better? Right now, someone is out there working harder than you, learning more than you, and trying to take your spot. In order to keep up, you have to get ahead.

You read that right…in order to keep up, you have to get ahead. You have to continually improve yourself to stay ahead of the competition.

Are you reading the right magazines or books for your industry? Are you attending the right seminars? Are you getting better every day at what you do professionally? Are you improving your relationships?

If not, you’ll never reach the next level. Because it takes competence to develop confidence.

6. Confidence

Highly successful people are obsessive about maintaining and increasing their confidence.

The best way to get more confidence is to become more competent (the Competence-Confidence Loop). The more I practiced at golf, the more confidence I had during the tournament pressure. The more times I pulled off a certain shot on the practice tee, the more confident I was standing over the same shot in a tournament.

Once you reach competence, maintaining and increasing confidence requires intentional effort (are you sensing a theme here?). You have to work for confidence.

This is done through positive declarations and affirmations. It is done by removing the negative influences in your life and replacing them with positive people.

Which brings us to the last obsession of highly successful people…

7. Community

Highly successful people don’t do it alone.

No matter what myths you’ve bought into about the solitary leader, it’s not true. Successful people intentionally surround themselves with positive, affirming, encouraging people.

You need a team and you need others to reach your highest potential.

What healthy obsessions do you see in highly successful people?