Richard St. John, marketer and success analyst, has dedicated several years to researching the nuts and bolts of achievement. It all started with one big question: What leads to success? It came from a neighboring passenger during a flight to a TED conference, and at the time he didn’t have a good answer.
Related: 12 Simple Habits That Set Ultra-Successful People Apart
Prompted by the question, he decided to conduct 500 interviews on the subject, pulling wisdom from successful TEDsters along the way. After absorbing as much as he could, St. John compiled eight powerful secrets of successful people. In this TED Talk, he shares those important success habits.
1. Passion
“Freeman Thomas says, ‘I”m driven by my passion.’ TEDsters do it for love; they don”t do it for money.”
2. Work
“Rupert Murdoch said to me, ‘It”s all hard work. Nothing comes easily. But I have a lot of fun.’ Did he say fun? Rupert? Yes!”
3. Get Good
“Alex Garden says, ‘To be successful, put your nose down in something and get damn good at it.’ There”s no magic; it”s practice, practice, practice.”
4. Push
David Gallo says, ‘Push yourself. Physically, mentally, you”ve got to push, push, push.’ You”ve got to push through shyness and self-doubt.”
5. Support (aka moms)
“Frank Gehry said to me, ‘My mother pushed me.’ ”
6. Serve
“A lot of kids want to be millionaires. The first thing I say is: ‘OK, well you can”t serve yourself; you”ve got to serve others something of value. Because that”s the way people really get rich.’ ”
7. Ideas
St. John says there’s no magical secret to coming up with ideas, only a process of thinking. A few simple exercises will do the trick, such as:
8. Persistence
“Persist! Joe Kraus says, ‘Persistence is the number one reason for our success.’ You”ve got to persist through failure.”
