16 Differences Between Successful and Unsuccessful People

A few weeks ago, Dave Kerpen of Likeable Local received a postcard about successful vs unsuccessful people from a fellow entrepreneur Andy Bailey, chief executive of Petra Coach. Though the two man have never met in person, Kerpen said in his blog post that the postcard had a "profound effect" on his viewpoints on what sets successful people apart from others.

Kerpen wrote in his blog post that Bailey's postcard sixteen differences between successful and unsuccessful people "[reinforced] values I believe in and [reminded] me on a daily basis of the attitudes and habits that I know I need to embrace in order to become successful."

These 16 differences are:

Successful People	Unsuccessful People
1. Embrace change	Fear change
2. Want others to succeed	Secretly hope others fail
3. Exude joy	Exude anger
4. Accept responsibility for their failures	Blame others for their failures
5. Talk about ideas	Talk about people
6. Share data & info	Hoard data & info
7. Give people all the credit for their victories	Take all the credits from others
8. Set goals and life plans	Do not set goals
9. Keep a journal	Say they keep a journal but don't
10. Read every day	Watch TV every day
11. Operate from a transformational perspective	Operate from a transactional perspective
12. Continuously learn	Fly by the seat of their pants
13. Compliment others	Criticize others
14. Forgive others	Hold a grudge
15. Keep a "To Be" list	Don't know what they want to be
16. Have gratitude	Don't appreciate others and the world around them

Kerpen explained each of these differences in his blog post, but number 15 "Keep a 'To Be' list" struck me as brilliant.

I feel this comes down to how you want to define "successful." If you mean someone who comes close to being the type of person most of us hope everyone strives to be, someone who is both good for themselves and others, then it can work very well. If by successful you mean someone who achieves the goals they want in life, it is going to be hit or miss depending on the type of person and goals, as some get what they want by blatantly doing the opposite of those recommendations.

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In the past, I've been pushed toward keeping a journal. Nope. If I want my thoughts to stay private, I don't write them down.

But the rest are good. I like #2 in particular. One thing that I've been deliberately doing over the past few years is trying to help co-workers achieve their goals. In some work environments, that's dangerous. But it works where I am now.

The "To Be" list idea is interesting. I'll think about that one.

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I challenge the assertion that reading is inherently better for you than TV. A story is a story, regardless of how you package it. Likewise, garbage is garbage. Both mediums have their pros and cons with how you tell and receive the story, but a competent writer can overcome and embrace the nuances of their chosen medium. The distinction between reading and watching is therefore rather trivial to me. Almost like tossing a fish to a clapping seal, rewarding a cheap trick.

Now if you want to talk about specific shows and books, I can produce a Twilight for every Jerry Springer you can name. They both have their high points and they both have their low, low points.

Full disclosure: I watch TV, read fiction and non and also write

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Anyone who takes personal advice from an infographic deserves what they get. Where is the part about hard work, short term sacrifices for long term goals, or retaining a personal support structure?

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