Learn to lead like Tim Sykes.
Credit: Tim Sykes
My top goal as a stock trader was to make as much money as possible and now my top priority as a teacher is to create as many successful students as possible. I already have made several million dollars and now have several millionaires under my belt, but success is much more than just financial earnings. Here are three characteristics that I find successful people possess:
Characteristic #1: Dedication
No matter what your goals and dreams are, to be truly successful you must dedicate yourself to your craft and understand that achievement is a result of many weeks, months, sometimes even years or decades of hard work and perseverance. Do not fear failure or mistakes made along the way, everything you do wrong is one step closer to you achieving your goals because now you know what not to do.
Far too many people in our society, especially in the Internet and social media age, expect overnight success and for the vast majority of the world, that’s not how it works. Have patience and practice, practice, practice…you can achieve anything you put your mind to.
Characteristic #2: Having The Right Plan
Unfortunately, hard work and determination are not enough to guarantee you success in this world; you must be on the right path and ideally also have the right plan to up your odds of getting to where you want to go. It’s okay to pivot from your original plan or even start all over and make a new plan, but I’ve met too many 9 to 5ers who work their butts off getting nowhere in life because they’re slaving away, working hard for someone else’s dreams, not their own.
If you love the 9 to 5 world, that’s great, but don’t de-prioritize your passion and dreams and get stuck in the daily bustle of just trying to make enough money to get by and live. Even if I lost all my money, I’m fortunate enough to know exactly what I want in this world – to be the best teacher with the most successful students – so even in the face of adversity, I would adapt and regroup.
Characteristic #3: Ambition
If you want to test yourself out by setting some small, easily achievable goals for yourself, then definitely do that and gain some confidence. But for me, I like to dream big and put my efforts towards achieving the seemingly impossible. I was determined to become a millionaire at a young age, so I studied my butt off all throughout high school, ditching friends and pretty much everyone else, and I achieved my goal at the tender age of 21.
Next I wanted to become a hedge fund manager and I checked that off at age 23. I became a best-selling author at age 26 and then when I said in late 2007, I would create millionaire students from scratch, EVERYONE laughed at me. Now three millionaire students in the bucket, I want to create many more millionaires and I won’t rest until I’ve done the seemingly impossible. Every single day I work with my overall goal in mind.
It’s a good way to live…dream big.
Things I Liked:
1. The two Koreas are set to talk for the first time in ages; this is incredibly positive news!
2. My favorite college football team is Notre dame – much in part thanks to the movie “Rudy” – and we just had a huge win against Stanford!
3. Apple’s “bendgate” was over-hyped by the media, it happens on just a few phones, not all of them.
Up:
The New York Giants are now looking better than the New England Patriots, what is the world coming to? Go Big Blue ☺
Down:
Obama is focusing more on terrorists than what could be significantly more devastating, Ebola. We can never be too safe or overprotective with dsieases like this.
For more financial advice, head to timothysykes.com.
