7 Life Lessons From The World's Most Successful People

One of the best ways for you to move forward and achieve your life’s goals, is by learning from the people who are already successful. By opening your heart to listen to their advice, you will probably reach your goals much faster.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. It is much wiser to follow their footsteps and do the things these people have done to build their successful careers. Here are some valuable pieces of advice from highly successful people

Life Lessons From Successful People

1. Mary Barra: Do something You Are Passionate About
The CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra’s advice is to do something we love. In her own words,
“Do something you love. If you are doing something you are passionate about, you are just naturally going to succeed, and a lot of other things will happen that you don’t need to worry”.
You don’t know how long you are going to do the things you are currently doing until you reach your vision of success. It takes great determination to keep on going, especially when the odds are stacked against you.
But if you are doing something that you love, as Mary Barra put it, you are naturally going to succeed.
2. Maya Angelou: Forgive Yourself
Maya Angelous was an American author, poet and civil rights activitist. She said that it is very important for every human being to forgive herself or himself because if you live, you will make mistakes–it is inevitable.
But once you do and you see the mistake, then you should forgive yourself and say, “Well, if I’d known better I’d have done better“.
By realizing that these mistakes are a very good platform for your growth, you can discover more about yourself and ultimately, your true potential.
3. Richard Branson: A Setback is Never a Bad Thing
The Founder of Virgin Group, Richard Branson has provided us with a very good perspective on learning from our mistakes. He said, “I never see a setback as a bad experience. It is just a learning curve.”
As a serial entrepreneur, Richard Branson has had his own fair share of setbacks.But he learned very quickly to use them as a platform to learn more about the business.
One lesson that is valuable to learn is the ability to adapt quickly to changes, and another is the ability to be quick to accept that something is not going well and either change tack or close the business.
4. J.K. Rowling: Embrace Failure
When J.K. Rowling, the mind behind Harry Potter, had just started out almost fifteen years ago, it was a very difficult time for her and her daughter.
She had faced a lot of rejections from literary agents until her work was finally accepted by Christopher Little, providing her with the springboard to turn her work into the success that we know today.
In Rowling’s words; “It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all. In which case, you fail by default”.
5. Indra Nooyi: Never Stop Learning
Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi, insists that we should never stop learning. She has said:
“Wherever we are in our lives, whether we are entry-level employees fresh from college, or a CEO, we don’t know it all. Admitting this is not a sign of weakness. The strongest leaders are those who are lifelong students.”
It is much easier for your learning process if you walk into all of the lessons that your life is giving you, by assuming you don’t know everything.
Because by being a know-it-all, you are already pushing away the opportunities for you to learn something new, which could be very useful in your journey toward success.
6. Eric Schmidt: Say Yes to Things
Google’s Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt advises young people to find a way to say yes to things.
“Yes is how you get your first job, and your next job. Yes is how you find your spouse, and even your kids. Even if it’s a bit edgy, a bit out of your comfort zone, saying yes means you will do something new, meet someone new and make a difference in your life, and likely in others’ lives as well. Yes is a tiny word that can do big things. Say it often.”
When you say yes to an opportunity, you have to be prepared to do all the work that is required to keep your end of the bargain.
However, with practice, as well as action, commitment and engagement, this habit will be beneficial for your growth as you are able to learn more and build connections and trust with more people.
7. Mark Zuckerberg: Listen to Yourself
Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg says;
“The most important thing is to just have faith in yourself and trust yourself. When you’re young, you hear that you don’t have experience to do things, that there are people that have more experience than you. But I started Facebook when I was 19”.
Almost all of us who want to be successful will encounter people, including those who genuinely care about us like our parents and spouse, who will doubt what we do. This is simply because they cannot see clearly what we are currently seeing in our minds.
No matter how young you are, you are still never too young to achieve something significant in your life and be successful.
Source: Lifehack