What Leads TED-sters to Success can Lead You Too!

I have the following eight words written on a card displayed on my refrigerator door. Without fail, all who come over for dinner and read these simple eight words open a vast and inspired smile. I can almost see their mental image of themselves being successful in their chosen areas. Their eyes shiny and dreamy. I always think "Imagine if they read the whole thing!"

I am delighted to have come across this entry once again and so happy to share these real views of what some of the world's most triumphant people believe accounts for their success. Enough said! Read on:
PS-I will PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE making this blog look nicer :-S

VIA One Powerful World

It all started one day on a plane, on my way to TED, seven years ago. And in the seat next to me was a high school student, a teenager, and she came from a really poor family. And she wanted to make something of her life, and she asked me a simple little question. She said, "What leads to success?" And I felt really badly, because I couldn't give her a good answer. So I get off the plane, and I come to TED. And I think, jeez, I'm in the middle of a room of successful people! So why don't I ask them what helped them succeed, and pass it on to kids? So here we are, seven years, 500 interviews later, and I'm gonna tell you what really leads to success and makes TED-sters tick.


1.Passion
Freeman Thomas says, "I'm driven by my passion." TED-sters do it for love, they don't do it for money. Carol Coletta says, "I would pay someone to do what I do." And the interesting thing is, if you do it for love, the money comes anyway.


2. Hard 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! TED-sters do have fun working. And they work hard. I figured, they're not workaholics. They're workafrolics.


3. Practice
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. Focus
Norman Jewison said to me, "I think it all has to do with focusing yourself on one thing"


5. Push Yourself
David Gallo says, "Push yourself. Physically, mentally, you've gotta push, push, push." You gotta push through shyness and self-doubt. Goldie Hawn says, "I always had self-doubts. I wasn't good enough, I wasn't smart enough. I didn't think I'd make it." Now it's not always easy to push yourself, and that's why they invented mothers. Frank Gehry said to me, "My mother pushed me."


6. Serve
Sherwin Nuland says, "It was a privilege to serve as a doctor." Now a lot of kids tell me they want to be millionaires. And the first thing I say to them is, "OK, well you can't serve yourself, you gotta serve others something of value. Because that's the way people really get rich."


7. Ideas
TED-ster Bill Gates says, "I had an idea -- founding the first micro-computer software company." I'd say it was a pretty good idea. And there's no magic to creativity in coming up withideas, it's just doing some very simple things.


8. Persist
Joe Kraus says, "Persistence is the number one reason for our success." You gotta persist through failure. You gotta persist through crap! Which of course means "Criticism, Rejection, Assholes and Pressure."


In Summary, Do it for love not for money; push your limits physically, mentally(self-doubt,shyness); Persist against Criticism, Rejection, Assholes and Pressures; Have fun in what you do; Become really good at what you do....practice practice practice; Serve others andmoney will come; Get Ideas -Listen, Observe, Be Curious, Ask Questions, Solve Problems, Make Connections; Focus yourself on one thing.


So, the big -- the answer to this question is simple: Do the eight things, these are the eight things that lead to success.


Source: Richard St. John, TED