Have you ever wondered why successful people seem to turn everything they touch into gold while you seem to be stuck with a pocketful of lead? Do you tell yourself that they must have been born with more money, better looks, and a better education than you? Even as you comfort yourself with this line of thought, do you find yourself pushing away the knowledge that people like Ogg Mandino and Zig Ziglar were dirt poor and that Dave Thomas never graduated from high school?

I have spent most of my adult life studying the lives of people who are successful in life and in business because I wanted to be one too. My discoveries parallel those of Napoleon Hill, Robert Allen, and Thomas J. Stanley, 3 men who have also spent many years studying the habits of successful people. Here are six traits that successful people share, traits you can learn and develop for yourself.

1. Successful people are dedicated learners, most of them reading for hours each day. They seem to know intuitively that continuing to learn about the world and other people is part of what lets them be creative and make sound decisions.

2. Successful people have a burning desire to accomplish the thing they are working on. It's more than a passing fancy, more intense than a dream, and is more focused than a goal. It is a melding of logic, emotion, and the spirit. Do you remember when you fell in love for the first time? That intensity is a component of burning desire.

3. Successful people develop highly specialized knowledge. They are experts in their chosen field and have learned every aspect of their field or niche. Though they do read and learn about other subjects, successful people become deeply involved in their chosen field and are rewarded for their expertise.

4. Successful people are disciplined. They use discipline to keep themselves focused, and they count on discipline to get them through hard times when they may be discouraged emotionally. Discipline gives them the self-control to do the things that aren't very much fun but must be done if their project is to succeed. I read somewhere that successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. I like that saying because it doesn't say that successful people necessarily like doing what unsuccessful people aren't willing to do. It just means that they get the thing done and keep moving.

5. Successful people tend to have a decisive nature. They are able to make most decisions fairly quickly and don't second guess themselves once a choice is made. They take full responsibility for their choices, whether the decision was the right one or not.

6. Successful people surround themselves with other successful people and people who have a can-do attitude. This is what people are referring to when they talk about a mastermind group. They network with other people and turn to successful people for encouragement when times are hard. They seem to actively avoid working with people who are habitually negative. They do their brainstorming with a carefully chosen mastermind group, and they don't let negative people steal their dreams.

Look over this list of traits of successful people. How many of them do you see in your life? What can you do to encourage development of these traits in your life? If you don't have one, what could you do to develop a mastermind group of your own?