Seven key secrets of power and creativity:
By: Dr. John P. DeMann
09-09-2010

My goal in writing these articles will be to provide you with specific information that I have found to be helpful in creating extraordinary outcomes. Each week I will provide specific information in the area of personal development so that you can apply what you will learn and achieve the outcomes you desire. I want to make an important point; these articles are not only for developing success in business, they can be used to improve the quality of life in general. These articles can also be used to improve the quality of your employees work if you are looking for ways to improve the productivity of your business.

I have found in my research and through personal experience the best way to become successful is to study and model those who have achieved what we would like to achieve. For over 25 years I have been researching and studying some of the most successful people in the world. In fact, I have looked at those who are considered to have achieved super success and those who have achieved truly fulfilling lives. When I was 15 years old I began to wonder why some people were successful and others were not so successful. My quest for this answer has brought me to an observation that I believe will benefit anyone who is seeking to achieve a successful and happy life. I believe to be successful happiness MUST be part of the outcome.

I will also include in these articles special tools and techniques that you will find helpful in your quest for success and happiness. In other words, I will try to make these articles practical! As I always point out it is very important that you put to use what you learn. I have seen in my career so many people who are starving to learn and achieve yet they put all the effort into learning, but rarely in doing. I ask that you commit right now to not waste your knowledge and apply it. Also, don’t think you are not wise enough to develop new ideas from what you learn, work on being innovative and creative and I know you will bring great ideas to the world. One last thing before we begin, teach what you learn and what you innovate and create to others. This serves two important purposes; first it allows you to internalize the knowledge faster and second you get to help others improve the quality of their life.

I have found a seven key traits, or secrets, that are common among those who have achieved extraordinary outcomes. I say secrets because I rarely see personal development literature tell us what others who succeed do. Most of the time we get what the writer believes is the road to personal development, which is often just theory. Don’t get me wrong, many writers have great ideas, but there is nothing better than getting information through research that has been used to achieve extraordinary success. I also want to point out that all of these traits are not part of a genetic makeup, but are a part of learned experiences. Most of the people I have studied have had experiences that provided them these traits; however I do believe and in my research I have found that these traits can be nurtured. Whether you are a parent trying to give your kids that extra edge or an adult who is trying to improve the quality of your own life these traits can be learned to promote extraordinary outcomes.

Before we begin it is important to also understand that those who have achieved extraordinary outcomes are not considered normal. Normal in this way describes those who are average or are considered the majority of the population. Those who are considered outside this range should not be looked at always in terms of abnormal in a negative way. In fact, the majority of those I have studied are those individuals who operate outside what is considered normal and is one reason why they succeeded. This is the main reason a small percentage of the populations ever reach high levels of success. In short, it is important to understand that those who achieve higher levels of success are not considered abnormal in a negative way, but abnormal because they do what others are not either willing to do or don’t know how to do.

To begin I will name these traits and then provide a detailed description of each individual trait with a short description of how you can began to develop them into your skill set. The seven traits include: intuition, high self-esteem, ability to take risks, the desire to be rebellious, obsessive, hard-working, and driven. Look at yourself honestly and see which of these traits you have and which you lack. Again, be completely honest with yourself. Take a minute and think of those you see who are accomplishing great things, those who are excelling at the workplace. Study those who are good at a game and see if you agree that they have these 7 traits in abundance. It will take time to cultivate these traits, but if you focus on each one, in time you will have these traits imbedded in your neurology so they become a part of who you are. I will try to provide you easy ways to help you implement these traits into your persona, but remember if you don’t put the exercises to work nothing will happen and reading this article will be a total waste of your time. Success does not come easy, but if you love what you do the work needed to succeed will be fun.

INTUITION: This trait is often looked at in terms of a non-accurate skill. The truth is that intuition is an actual chemical reaction that occurs when your unconscious recognizes a correct response to a given situation. It's true that if we are not careful and we jump to conclusions we can make mistakes in our decisions. However, when you learn how to listen to your own internal feelings you are tapping into a storehouse of knowledge that has been gained over a lifetime.

To improve your ability to use your intuition, listen to you’re in internal states. Even if you’re driving home from work and you get a gut feeling that it may be better to take a different route, do so, and see what happens. When interacting with other people listen to what you're intuition is telling you. I would suggest that intuition is one of the best tools we can use in all of our relationships because it gives us the ability to recognize when something may not be right. Research has shown that two people who enter a room will begin to take on the state the other person is in and the two will began to mirror each other’s feelings.

SELF-ESTEEM: This trait is one of the most important traits that we need to develop. We are all given a sense of who we are from a very early age and this is often not equal to who we really can become. Those who achieve extraordinary success have high self-esteem; they have to in order to attempt the great things they accomplish.

A great way to build high self-esteem is to evaluate your current self-esteem. It is important to be very honest with yourself when you do this so that you get a true picture of what needs to change. To change your current self-esteem write out a detailed description of the person you want to be. It can be helpful to use some of the models or heroes you look up to and internalize their belief systems. A great exercise to perform each night before you go to bed is to get a clear image of this new person and meditate on it for about 15 minutes.

RISK-PROPENSITY: Those who achieve extraordinary success are willing to take a risk. I'm not talking about random risk; I'm talking about calculated risk. However, at times it will be important to trust your intuition, your instinct, and just go for. Most of us will not do this due to fear, but you'll have to learn to overcome this fear if you ever want to achieve the life you have always dreamed of.

To develop this trait it is important to practice facing your fears. Do this first with simple fears then face more difficult fears as you go. This will allow you to build up the ability to handle greater fears gradually. You can even use your 15 minutes of meditation at night to see yourself facing your fears and successfully overcoming them. Actually see yourself doing those things you know must be done in order to achieve your goals.

REBELIOUS: Anyone who has created something extraordinary has had to have a rebellious spirit. Most of us are raised in such a way that we are put into boxes that limit our ability to achieve greatness. Even in our education system we are trained to “fit in” which only causes us to hold back. Those who succeed in major ways have either been allowed to operate outside the box or have learned how to operate outside the norm.

To develop this trait first realized that doing something different does not mean that you are doing something wrong. In fact, begin to believe that because you do things different you are a unique individual. This will require practice and it will be uncomfortable at first, but face your fears and overtime you will begin to realize that your unique behaviors will reward not only you, but others as well.

OBSESSIVE: To achieve anything of value requires a great deal work. In fact, it will require obsessive attention to what you are doing. Successful people are obsessive about what they are doing because they are passionate about it.

Developing this trait only requires that you are passionate about what you are doing. Make sure that what you are going after is truly what you really want. Many of my past clients have had goals that they finally realized were not their own goals but the goals of others, specifically of society. Once they realized this and truly found their true passion their success sky rocketed!

WORKAHOLIC: This one trait is pretty self-explanatory. When we see those who achieve greatness it is a guarantee that they work hard and long hours to achieve their outcomes. It's important to remember that those who have achieved great successes never considered their work as work, but more in terms of something they love to do. When we love what we do it becomes exciting and fun.

This trait is best developed as the one above by doing what you love. Take some time and really evaluate some of the goals that you have set and prioritize those goals so that the ones that truly mean something to you are at the top of your list. It's also important that you are working on no more than one or two goals at any given time. Those who tell you to set numerous goals truly have no idea how to achieve a goal. Achieving anything of value requires your focus and attention on that one outcome.

TENACITY: This trait is really better described as perseverance. We all will fail at some point in the process, but the important thing to remember is that we learn from our mistakes and we continue to move forward towards the outcome. All of those I have studied who achieved greatness had tenacity and would be literally fueled when something they tried did not work.

To develop this trait again requires that you love what you are going after. Remind yourself of one simple fact: failure is only failure if you do not learn from it. However, if you learn from your failures it is an extraordinary learning experience. Each time you try to attain a goal and you fall short review what you did and learn what not to do in the future.

As a coach I have had the opportunity to work with so many different people. The old psychology said you either have it or you don’t! However, today we are realizing that the brain, our whole neurology is plastic and can change if provided the correct course of action. I have found that many of these traits come automatically with clients who have found something they love to do. This is why it is so important to make sure that you love what you do and never go through life doing something because you think you have to. We have all been given an extraordinary gift, LIFE! Don’t waste it on living inside the box that others have put us in. Realize right now that this moment can be that moment that changes the course of your future. It’s time to leave your mark on the world and let your life shine!

Starting in 2011 I'm going to begin a weekly meeting called the Quantum Project for those who are interested in sharing research and ideas about personal and professional development. These will be held online which will make it very convenient. Please keep an eye out for when this project will begin. I love to hear from my readers so please feel free to contact me and let me know what you think. I also love to get feedback which will help not only me, but others as well. You can reach me at john@7poe.com.