10 Things High Achievers Do to Attain Greatness
Do you ever secretly wish that you could achieve more with your time? You are not alone. Most people want more from their lives but simply don’t know where to start.
The good news is that learning to accomplish greatness in your life is totally possible if you learn to study other successful high achievers.
Find out what sparkling new patterns you want to implement in your own life by studying what real high achievers do in the round up below.
1. They Know What They Want.
That seems pretty obvious, but if you don’t have a clear goal, dream or desire in mind, how will you know when you’ve gotten where you wanted to be?
Successful people have clear goals and a clear vision for how to get there.
For example, Albert Einstein remained obsessed with the big questions and problems of physics, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do: he wanted to answer the questions and solve the problems that no one else had been able to. And guess what? He did just that.
High achievers dream specific, plan smart, and confidently strive toward success.
2. They Focus on Their Goals.
Once achievers know what they want, they are tenacious and focused on forward progress toward their goals. They don’t run over people or deliberately hurt people to get what they want, but they do stay focused on the end goal in all their interactions and daily tasks.
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
Elon Musk, with a net worth of $21.2 billion, is considered revolutionary. Some might have seen his plans to totally reinvent transportation methods, including fantasy-like transportation methods in outer space, a little silly. But Musk proved them all wrong by staying focused on his goals with hawk-like attention to detail. He spends hours and hours at the office focusing on his goals in order to achieve them.
Learn How to Stay Focused on Your Goals in a Distracting World.
3. They Are Passionate.
It’s very helpful when reaching for a big goal to not just get excited by it, but to truly be passionate about it.
High achievers often talk about how much fun they are having, or say that they would do what they do even if they weren’t getting paid (and in the beginning, they probably weren’t). That’s the kind of passion and positive outlook you need to achieve your highest goals.
Bill Gates, creator of Microsoft, began his successful career early in life by simply being excited about things like video games and computers. You can be like Gates too. Identify your passions and pursue them in your career.
4. They Don’t Procrastinate.
Some of the things we have to do to meet our goals or achieve our dreams are not very easy, but high achievers are able to focus on what needs to get done and actually do it instead of living in a world of dreams. They have a plan and they can follow it starting right now.
Even though you may not be into arts, you must have heard of Vincent van Gogh, one of the most influential artists of all time. He is a perfect example of someone who not only dared to dream, but also dared to act.
Instead of procrastinating or staying in a rut, he made a choice to pursue art and dove in head-first. Although he only worked for about ten years due to a tragically short life, van Gogh produced an estimated 900 paintings and more than 1,000 drawings.
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
If you want to get more out of your life, then stop dreaming and start taking actions today, not tomorrow: How to Stop Procrastinating: 11 Practical Ways for Procrastinators
5. They Create Their Own Opportunities.
True achievers know that they don’t have to be stuck in a box – they can create their own story through hard work.
Brené Brown is a respected social researcher and increasingly popular speaker and author. She has been hosted on Oprah. She has written and published a slew of popular self-help books, and she has one of the most-watched TEDx talks in history.
Interestingly, Brown didn’t start her story in a glamorous way. In fact, many social sciences professionals scoffed at her unusual methods of research and her passion for the topic of vulnerability and shame. Brown, however, continued forging her own path until she reached her destination: greatness.
Brown is a striking example of a person who knew what she wanted and paved her way into her own story of success with dedication. High achievers know that nothing good comes without hard work. They are willing to create their own opportunities and don’t expect to be handed cookie-cutter dreams in life.
6. They Have Positive Attitudes.
Studies of high-performing students find that the happiest students are those who excel most academically. The same holds true for adults in business and in life.
If you have a good attitude, enjoy what you’re doing and remember that setbacks are temporary, it’s a lot easier to be successful. Without negativity, there’s nothing to hold you back from achieving whatever it is you want to achieve.
A positive attitude also helps people to think of what they are doing as important, which is a great way to stay motivated and working toward a goal.
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄ ⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
Jim Carey, the famous comedian and actor, began looking for gigs as a teenager. At age fifteen, he performed onstage and completely disappointed the crowd with a less-than-successful first performance. Carey ultimately succeeded, though, by maintaining a positive outlook. He is known for visualizing success, staying positive, and continuing to work hard.
7. They Have a Team They Can Count On.
High achievers know they can’t do everything themselves. There’s a time very early on when you can go it alone, but even the smallest startups need help. It’s actually easier for a company‒or a dream‒to grow more quickly if there are more people engaged in making it work.
Your team could even be one or two trusted individuals who have your back when things get hard. Stephen King, an iconic author, submitted one of his first novels, “Carrie”, to more than 30 publishers. He received rejection after rejection and even threw his manuscript in the trash. His wife was his team; she pulled the manuscript out of the trash and asked him to try again. “Carrie” was a hit and became a springboard to a successful writing career spanning more than 50 bestsellers.
High achievers are able to foster great relationships and build teams that can help them achieve what they want even faster. They tend to have an eye for talent and are good at attracting the right people to their teams.
If you want to be a better leader, these tips can help: How to Master Your Management Skills and Build a Strong Team
8. They Take Time for Themselves.
Amid all this hard work, multitasking and big dreaming, high achievers know they need to take care of themselves too. Getting sick in the middle of a major launch isn’t good for anyone.
So a lot of stories you read about people who’ve had a lot of success will note that they eat well, exercise regularly, try to get enough sleep and even occasionally take time away from the office to refuel.
Emma Stone, a highly esteemed actress, is open with the media about her struggle with anxiety and stress. She reportedly practices self-compassion, meditation, and self-kindness to take care of herself.
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄ ⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
Successful people know that sacrifice is often required for success, but they understand what they need to do to keep their bodies and minds performing well.
9. They Don’t Bad-Mouth Others.
High achievers know better than to burn bridges. They practice the advice that you shouldn’t say bad things about others, and they usually listen more than they speak.
They also tend not to compare themselves to others or get envious. They’re so focused on what they want to do that they don’t stop to look around at what others are doing.
10. They Never Quit.
Tyler Perry, an accomplished director, writer, and performer, faced early failures in both his personal life and professional life. Perry pushed through these personal challenges and dealt with failure after failure with his first production. Finally, his production gained momentum, and he is now successful because he never gave up.
High achievers are tenacious, sticking to their plans and goals as long as they need to in order to get where they want to be. If they didn’t stick with it, they wouldn’t achieve anything.
Learn how to not give up easily: Giving up Is Not an Option! How to Not Give up and Stay Motivated
Final Thoughts
Success and achievement are not just for the people mentioned above — they are for you, too!
Unlock your future by finding your passions and goals, and working hard. Pay attention to what other high achievers around you are doing, and follow suit.
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄ ⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
Before you know it, you will be creating your own famous success story.
More Tips About Achieving Success
Featured photo credit: Fabrizio Verrecchia via
15 Characteristics of High Achievers You Need to Know
Looking at a high achiever or someone successful in life, you may always think, “I wish I could be like that!” But little do you know about the person’s struggle to achieving all that and more. High achievers have many characteristics that help them attain everything they want — it isn’t based on luck. So, find out what they are below to become a part of the club!
1. Action-Oriented
The people who wish to achieve something are always action-oriented. When they feel like work needs to be done, they do it without asking too many questions and ensure that the work is done on time.
Driven by the outcome and the determination always to keep moving, high achievers try to figure out all the possible solutions for their work beforehand. They may not ever get it right, but they will keep trying until they do.
2. Optimistic
Optimism has a lot to do with how you perceive the world.
For high achievers, optimism comes naturally. They focus on what is good and offer good vibes in return. Being optimistic leads to a better mindset that everyone needs to fulfill their goals.
If you are always pessimistic, then you’ll restrict yourself from achieving everything you can. By remembering that you are not your negative thoughts and taking up a more positive outlook on life and everything involved, you will be set to achieve anything.
3. Visionary
High achievers create a plan for long-term goals and focus on it. You will find them going back and forth from the present to their planned future quickly.
It is easy to do this because of their well-drafted plans. With clarity and focus, you can also envision yourself doing different things in life and work towards them.
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
4. Output-Focused
While every action doesn’t result in a great outcome, high achievers will continue to strive for an improved focal point. By focusing on that, you can streamline the process to make things easier for yourself. That’s the only way to find clarity.
If you’re unsure about what you want from life, then you will be confused for years. High achievers have their lives figured out mainly because they are output-driven. So, it is time to start focusing on the output you are producing.
5. Clutter-Free
High achievers make sure that both their homes and brains are clutter-free. Living in a messy surrounding lowers productivity, and that ultimately affects your ability to achieve your goals.
If you want to become a high achiever, clean your surroundings all the time. By living a clutter-free life, you feel more organized and productive.
6. Flexible
When you aspire to achieve incredible things, then you must be open to all sorts of change. Your life will not always be simple, and you are bound to experience many changes. Besides, high achievers are flexible enough to adapt to any environment.
By doing so, you can work towards your success in any condition possible. Try different things and test yourself in various situations to realize how to walk out of them with your goals achieved.
7. Accepting
With a positive mindset, high achievers also make sure that they are future-centered. Though they don’t forget the ups and downs in their past lives, they accept things and move forward.
If you’re bogged down with previous experiences, you’re letting memories consume too much of your time.
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
Rather than revisiting history frequently, you need to face your issues head-on. Accept what already happened and then move past it.
8. Go-Getter
There is no stopping for high achievers. They deal with exponential growth because they do not like being slowed down!
Working on improving yourself in different dimensions helps ensure that you are growing.
Self-development is essential. You should always learn how to do that to achieve the goals that you have set for yourself.
9. Opportunity Seeker
If you ever wonder how someone gets from the lower level of the hierarchy up to the top, it is all because of their attitude towards opportunities.
Never underestimate what the world has to offer you. Be keen on availing different chances since you never know how they can benefit you.
High achievers are always on a lookout for new and better opportunities for themselves, and you need to follow their lead!
10. Lack of Comparisons
When it comes to achieving goals, it is best to avoid comparing yourself to others. Doing so will only put you down instead of lifting your spirits. After all, you will feel incompetent and not good enough.
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄ ⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
Don’t compete with others’ achievements but focus on your growth. High achievers only compare the current version of themselves to the old ones to how far they have come.
11. Disciplined
An essential thing that almost every high achiever focuses on is self-discipline. It doesn’t mean that they don’t know how to have fun. In truth, they do, but it’s in a more balanced way.
Practice moderation, and stay disciplined. Set your daily routine and avoid wasting your time for pointless activities too frequently. Otherwise, your life can get messy in more ways than one.
Here’s an interesting read for you: 5 Daily Habits Of High Achievers
12. Eager to Learn
Learning is a part of life that high achievers always want to make the most of. They never say no to learning new things, considering it helps them grow as a person and gain different skills.
Learning proves to be beneficial for anyone who wishes to expand their thinking. It will also allow you to focus on achieving your goals.
13. Doer
One of the main issues that people face is procrastination. They use it as an excuse for everything.
High achievers, on the other hand, don’t fall prey to this notion and do their work earlier than anyone else.
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄ ⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
You can become a doer by making up your mind about your goal of becoming a high achiever. Focus on why you should do your work and find the motivation to start at the right time.
14. Intrinsically Motivated
When it comes to motivation, high achievers are motivated from within. They have goals set and think of how they can achieve them. No one else is encouraging them to do anything other than themselves.
Find your motivation by thinking about the things you wish to achieve. Let me reiterate: there’s no better person to motivate you but yourself!
Dig deep and think about what you have always wanted to do and create a path of your own.
15. Helpful
If you assume that high achievers only work for themselves, you’re wrong. Since they focus on the outcome, they excel in providing incredible products or services to others.
Moreover, high achievers also create opportunities for people who wish to excel in life. With their motivation to do better, they aim to help other individuals along the way.
So, no, high achievers are working for themselves alone. They act like a boomerang for the community as they come full circle.
Final Thoughts
High achievers create a successful life for themselves — it isn’t handed to them on a silver platter.
⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄ ⌄ Scroll down to continue reading article ⌄
It is up to you to mold your personality accordingly. Take small steps and incorporate these characteristics into your life to become a high achiever.
More on Achieving Incredible Goals
Featured photo credit: Joshua Earle via
Common Core Reading: The High Achievers
Common Core Reading: The High Achievers
Part 2 in a four-part series on reading in the Common Core era.
Enlarge this image LA Johnson/NPR LA Johnson/NPR
Linnea Wolters was prepared to hate the Common Core State Standards.
She taught fifth grade at a low-income school in Reno, Nev., where, she says, there was always some new plan to improve things. And none of it added up to good education. But, after leading her class through a Core-aligned lesson — a close reading of Emma Lazarus' sonnet "The New Colossus" — she was intrigued, especially by the way different students reacted to the process.
NPR Ed Common Core Reading: 'The New Colossus' Common Core Reading: 'The New Colossus' Listen · 6:46 6:46
Many of Wolters' typically low-performing students really engaged with the lesson; they gave it their all. But the higher achievers were resistant, she says.
Other Washoe County teachers who tried early Common Core-aligned lessons with their students noticed this too, says Torrey Palmer, who was a literacy coordinator for the school district.
"High-achieving readers were used to reading very quickly through a text, answering a series of comprehension questions, done," she says. They weren't used to being challenged.
Reno High
Reno High School is one of the top-performing high schools in Washoe County. Many teachers there were initially resistant to the Common Core. They thought: We already have high standards, no need for new ones.
But the Common Core has been good for Reno High, says Brien Karlin, a U.S. history teacher. "Common Core teaches us to teach students better," he says.
I visited Karlin's American government class earlier this year, on the day they did a close reading of an article by Larry Sabato called "Ban the Gerrymander."
Before Karlin handed out the article, he did a quick review of what students had already learned about gerrymandering — the process of drawing voting districts to favor one political party or the other.
The class spent a few minutes reviewing what the U.S. Constitution says about how voting districts can be drawn, and Karlin showed several slides of congressional districts with odd bulges and bends thanks to the politics of boundary drawing.
In the past, a lecture about boundary politics might have taken up the entire class period. But one goal of the Common Core is for students to spend more time reading and analyzing complex texts. Karlin warned his standard-level class of 11th- and 12th-graders:
"It's at a reading level past graduation from high school, so it may be a little bit challenging," he said. "But I'm a firm believer that you guys are able to do hard things."
With that, Karlin divided the students into small groups, passed out the article, and asked them to read it aloud, together. They then tackled a series of questions that required them to cite evidence for their answers.
The first question: "On line 6, the author uses the phrase 'artificially intensified partisanship.' What does he mean by this?"
One group of students was stumped because they weren't sure of the word "intensified." Without defining it for them, Karlin tried to help.
"If something has been intensified, it's become what?" Karlin asked the group.
"Better!" one student blurted out.
"Not necessarily better," Karlin said.
"I can't think of a word," said the student, her face pinched with frustration.
"If a feeling becomes more intense," Karlin asked, "it's become what?"
"Stronger?"
"Good. So intensify means 'making stronger.' "
Karlin then moved on to another group struggling with a different question. He says his students aren't accustomed to reading closely like this. Before the Common Core, they were typically asked to read something and summarize it. Or they might have been asked their opinion about a text.
Enlarge this image LA Johnson/NPR LA Johnson/NPR
Students love talking about their opinions, says Karlin. "They go crazy on a 'what do you think of ... ' question. That's kind of like their bread and butter as far as skating by," he says. "But when you actually say, 'Identify three specific arguments that Abraham Lincoln was making in the Gettysburg address,' they struggle there."
One of the things Karlin appreciates most about the Core standards is that they've given him new ideas about how to teach without telling him what to do. He wrote the lesson about gerrymandering himself; it doesn't come from a textbook or a curriculum guide or the district office.
For Karlin and other teachers at Reno High, this is one of the best things about Common Core. It's given them common ground to share lessons with each other — and with teachers around the country.
What Do The Kids Think?
Most of the teachers in Washoe County, Nev., are on board with the Common Core. But what about the students?
Several students at Reno High School who were interviewed for this story admitted they'd never heard of the Core until their teacher told them a reporter was coming to ask them about it. But many have noticed a change in the way they've been learning over the past few years.
You have to use your brain, and you have to struggle a little bit to figure it out.
"We're doing more reading in my physics class, and we're doing more analysis in my history class," 12th-grader Maddi Eckert says. "The way that we're learning now, it seems to encompass so many more different levels of thought."
Ania Cavillo-Mason says she really liked the close-reading lessons. She remembered using the technique in advanced classes early in high school, but in standard-level classes, lectures and note-taking were far more common.
"It's like you're just getting the basics of everything," she says of lectures. "You're getting, like, a term and a definition and one example, maybe."
But she says close reading is different.
"It feels like the point is to actually learn something and to actually gain something from it," says Cavillo-Mason. "You have to use your brain, and you have to struggle a little bit to figure it out. Once you do, you've actually gained something from it."
Once Those Assessments Come Out
Linnea Wolters is now an implementation specialist for the Washoe County School District; she works with teachers across the district as they try to put the Common Core into practice.
She believes the Core is improving education in Washoe County. She says most kids — high achievers and low achievers — are more engaged in school now.
"You can feel in a classroom when kids care about what they're doing," she says. "You can't learn when you don't care. And if you can create environments where students care deeply about what they're doing, learning will follow," she says.
But, she adds, "I don't have a number to support that."
Much of what happens in education these days comes down to numbers. In other words, test scores. Students in Nevada take their first fully-aligned Common Core tests this spring. Wolters and others are anxious about how students will do.
"Once those scores come out, then systems do crazy things to respond and react to them," says teacher Torrey Palmer.
"My hope is that when the test matches great teaching," Wolters says, "and the teaching produces great thinking, that it will all work itself out."
This story originally appeared as part of American RadioWorks' "Greater Expectations: The Challenge of the Common Core."