I am an occasional contributor to an ezine called Healthcare Marketing Exchange. A while back they celebrated 20 years in business. They asked me to do a short piece called “20 Qualities of Successful People.” This piece ran a while ago. I came across it as I was looking through my Word files. I thought it would be a great post on this career success blog.

A solid professional image goes a long way in helping you land your dream job. Follow the career advice in Tweet 67 in my career success book Success Tweets. “Demonstrate self-respect. Be impeccable in your presentation of self – in person and on line.” In this post I shared some great career advice from Ross Simmonds on how to use social media to present yourself as a competent professional. But remember, while social media is great for initiating relationships, noting takes the place of face to face communication for enhancing them.

Successful people are outstanding performers. Outstanding performers remain outstanding performers by becoming lifelong learners. They continually expand their knowledge in order to get out in front of the pack and stay there. They follow the career advice in Tweet 82 in Success Tweets. “Learn faster than the world changes. In a world that never stops changing, you can never stop learning and growing.” Begin your lifelong learning journey by focusing on your strengths and working to improve them every day. Building on your strengths is easier than overcoming your weaknesses. When you build on your strengths you can make incremental improvements. However, if you have a glaring gap in your skills, address it now. Don’t wait to take necessary quantum leaps. What do you need to learn to create the life and career success you want and deserve? How do you plan on learning it? Remember what Ben Franklin had to say, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

Successful people are good conversationalists. To become a good conversationalist, follow the career advice in Tweets 107 and 109 in Success Tweets. “Become an excellent conversationalist by listening more than speaking. Pay attention to what other people say; respond appropriately.” (Tweet 107) “Use the 2/3 – 1/3 rule. Listen two things of the time; speak one third of the time. Focus your complete attention on the other person.” (Tweet 109) Learn to listen well. Listening, like a lot of career success advice, is just common sense. Show the other person you are engaged. Focus on understanding, not on rebutting points with which you don’t agree. Don’t get distracted by words that trigger your emotions. Ask clarification questions to ensure you understand what is being said. Repeat what you’ve heard. Most of all, get in the habit of listening more than speaking.

Relationships are an important key to your life and career success. Resentment is a relationship killer. In this post, Joseph Bernard shows you how to deal with resentments that may be killing important relationships. In my opinion, the most important bit of career advice that Joseph shares is simple common sense. “The important thing to avoid is blaming. Remember that you are the sole creator of what you feel inside.” Take personal responsibility for your feelings and you’ll be on your way to building the strong relationships that will help you create the career success you deserve.

Successful people have a mighty purpose. They really like what they do. They see money as the byproduct of their work – not as their sole reason for working. Successful people know that being rich doesn’t mean you have tons and tons of money. They know that being rich means that you are: Rewarded for your contributions; Inspired by what you do; Confident in your skills, and Happy with the way you spend your days. So if you’re a young grad, chill. Take some time for yourself, do something personally meaningful – and then jump into your career with both feet.

Successful people define what success means to them. Then they develop a compelling and clear mental image of their success. They heed Den Robey’s advice as well as the career advice in Tweet 12 in Success Tweets: “Visualization is powerful. The more vivid the image you have of your success, the more likely you are to succeed.” They use their vivid mental image to help keep their dreams alive and to keep moving forward to what they want in their lives and careers. Creating a vivid mental image of your success is not day-dreaming. It’s real work – it’s the work of designing your future, so you can take the steps necessary to create it.

Successful people build and nurture strong relationships with the important people in their lives. Giving with no expectation of return is a great way to begin building relationships. Don’t think quid pro quo when it comes to building relationships. Don’t wait for someone else to make the first move. Be willing to go first. Put yourself out there and do what you can for others. You’ll be demonstrating your relationship-building skills and your interpersonal competence. Take the first step today. Find someone for whom you can do something – then do it. You’ll be surprised at what you might get from a selfless act.

If you want to create the life and career success you deserve, you need to build your self-confidence and commit to taking personal responsibility for your life and career. Only you can make you a success. You have to take personal responsibility for creating the successful life and career you want and deserve. Persistence is the mark of people who are committed to taking personal responsibility for their lives and careers. Persistent people keep going, even in – no especially in – the face of difficulties and problems. Promise yourself that you will commit to taking personal responsibility for your life and career. Be persistent. Become your own message…

If you want to become a dynamic communicator, you have to become a good conversationalist. To become a good conversationalist, follow the career advice in Tweet 107 in Success Tweets. “Become an excellent conversationalist by listening more than speaking. Pay attention to what other people say; respond appropriately.” Learn to listen well. Listening, like a lot of career success advice, is just common sense. Show the other person you are engaged. Focus on understanding, not on rebutting points with which you don’t agree. Don’t get distracted by words that trigger your emotions. Ask clarification questions to ensure you understand what is being said. Repeat what you’ve heard. Most of all, get in the habit of listening more than speaking.