6 Qualities of Wildly Successful People

Adapted from The Success Mastery Academy by Brian Tracy

Do you want to be successful? You can be – as long as you learn to think the way the most successful people think and adopt their habits.

But what makes someone a master achiever? Here are six characteristics:

1. They Are Ambitious

They believe they are capable of being the best. They see themselves as having the capacity to be really good at what they do.

This was a really big thought for me. It held me back for many years. When I saw people who were doing better than I was, I naturally assumed they were better than I was. And if they were better than I was, then I must be a worse than them. So that would mean they were superior and I was inferior.

That's a big problem in our society: We have feelings of inferiority, and these feelings of inferiority are often translated into feelings of undeservedness. The word "deserve" comes from two Latin words meaning "from service." You deserve 100 percent of everything you make and enjoy as long as you get it from serving other people. If you serve better, serve more, serve at a higher level, serve more enthusiastically, and serve at a higher quality, then you'll have a wonderful income – and you'll deserve every penny of it.

You just must see yourself capable of being the best.

2. They Are Courageous

Successful people work to confront the fears that hold most people back. The two biggest enemies to our success are fear and doubt.

When you do something repeatedly, you develop a habit. Make a habit throughout your life of doing the things that scare you. If you do the thing you fear, the death of fear is certain.

So face your fears. The ability to confront your fears is the mark of the superior person. If you have high ambition and you decide to be at the top, and you can confront your fears and do the things that are holding you back, those two things alone will make you a great success.

3. They Are Committed

The top people in every field are completely committed. They believe in themselves; they believe in their companies; they believe in their products and services; they believe in their customers. They have an intense belief.

We know that there is a one-to-one relationship between the depth of your belief and what happens in your reality. If you absolutely believe in the rightness and the goodness of what you're doing, you become like a catalyst. You create what is called a "transfer" – like an electrical transfer of enthusiasm.

People who are not committed to what they do lead very empty lives. Caring is a critical element in life. All men and women who enjoy great lives care about what they do. They have passion about what they do. They love what they do.

4. They Are Prepared

Successful people review every detail in advance. They do things that the average person is not willing to do. They make sacrifices the average person is not willing to make. The difference these sacrifices make is extraordinary.

Before you go into a meeting, do your homework. Before you give a speech, research the information and practice your talking points. Dive in deep to review every detail of every situation before you take it on.

Successful people are more concerned about pleasing results than they are about pleasing methods. There is nothing more complimentary to your team, your client, or your audience than the feeling that you have thoughtfully prepared.

5. They Are Continuous Learners

High achievers recognize that if they're not continually getting better, they're getting worse. They read, they listen to CDs, and they take additional training. The professional never stops learning.

6. They Are Responsible

The top people in our society have attitudes of self-employment. That's essential, because 100 percent of us are self-employed: We are presidents of our own personal services corporations. You work for yourself, and the biggest mistake you can ever make is thinking you work for anyone else. The person who signs your paycheck may change, your job may change, but you are always the same. You are the one constant.

The fact of the matter is that this is not optional – it is mandatory. You're the president of your own career, your own life, your own finances, your own body, your own family, your own health. You are totally responsible.

We have to be responsible. No one will ever do it for us. It's the most liberating and exhilarating thought of all, to realize that you're the president of your own life.

A version of this article originally appeared on SUCCESS.com.

Brian Tracy is a top-selling author of more than 45 books, as well as writer and producer of audio and video learning programs, including the best-selling The Psychology of Achievement.