Can it really be true that someone who earns 250,000 a year or someone who appears to have the perfect lifestyle, lots of free time, and is happy all the time is 10 times smarter than someone earning 25,000 ?

It just can't be. Over the last 20 years I have met numerous rich and famous people and believe me you are probably 10 times smarter than them !

Most of them have developed the traits by accident, they have learnt them from their parents, or have learnt them from other people. For some, being successful just comes naturally, they don't know how, it just happens, a bit like a talented singer or athlete.

For a small percentage of people this works well, but the ones who really perform well are those who have recognised their talents and work on them to put them to even better use.

Even a top athlete has to sometimes adjust his or her behaviour, like the pole vaulter who, every few times knocks the bar off, gets really angry with himself and starts to stomp around. He has to learn to put it behind him, become emotionally detached from what has happened and try to make changes so it doesn't happen again. Athletes take part in mental rehearsal where they see themselves successfully completing their sport.

Have you noticed how astronauts train and rehearse again and again, underwater, so that when they get into space (where often there are no second chances) performing the actual work becomes second nature because they have practised again and again.

Well, for you and I it's no different, we can learn the same skills that successful people use, in some ways learning from scratch is better because you can identify what steps you are taking when you attempt something, and when you are successful - do you know what to do ? Repeat the same steps again !

If you want to be the best in something, there's no point in re-inventing the wheel and trying loads of new things, find someone who is already doing what you want to do and COPY WHAT THEY DO. Find yourself a mentor, it could be someone down the street, or a famous person, read biographies and autobiographies, speak to or write to these people.

It is very rare that someone has "overnight success" Most people who are successful are already working very hard and are caught in the act of being successful. Some are in the right place at the right time, but that's usually because they are hanging around in the right places with the right people. It's the difference between the person who hopes he'll meet the big boss in the lift and the other who finds out when the boss will be there and plans to 'accidentally' bump into him. They have also usually paid the price in some way.

If you are not happy with your current situation, you must change something now, your fitness, the number of hours spent in front of the tv, the people you associate with, the books you read.

If you change nothing guess where you'll in a year's time ?

Same place.

In a nutshell, these seem to be some of the traits of successful people

They have a definite idea of what it is they want

They are only interested in things that help them achieve their goals

They have the ability to totally focus on one thing at a time

They have total persistence, they do 'whatever it takes'

They are prepared to quickly make changes and adjustments

They are prepared to fail again and again, they just get up, dust themselves down and carry on

They can solve problems with emotional detachment, and not dwell on them

They can hire 'experts' to help them

The first thing you need to do is to sit down and write down what it is you want, then work out what price you have to pay to get it. It may well be that when you see the sacrifices you have to make that your current life is not too bad after all, that means you are already successful !!