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Teachers work hard to model success and the traits that make for successful adults. Some of the words that you and your students may find as you consider the various 'secrets' to success are included in this article. Success really isn't a secret, but your students might pay attention even more if you share these ideas as if it's a 'scoop.'
Teachers work hard to model success and the traits that make for successful adults. Some of the words that you and your students may find as you consider the various 'secrets' to success are included in this article. Success really isn't a secret, but your students might pay attention even more if you share these ideas as if it's a 'scoop.'
- Concentration: Along with self-discipline and commitment comes concentration. Successful people are able to concentrate on important tasks at hand. You are not born with the ability to concentrate, it is something that you develop. You have control over your mind wandering or your body getting up out of your chair. Exert that control and you will be rewarded for it.
- Confidence: Successful people exude confidence. Confidence is different from bravado. Confidence is conveyed in the way that you walk and the way that you talk and the way that you act. Hold yourself in a way that indicates that you believe you are worthwhile. Talk about yourself and about others in a way that indicates positiveness. Act in such a way that others know that you can handle what comes your way.
- Conscientious: Excellence is in short supply in the world at this time. If you are conscientious in your work, you will stand out and be perceived by others as excellent. Take the extra time. Make the extra effort to attend to details. It sends a powerful message to others about how you see the value of your own work and about how you see them as recipients of your work.
- Consistency: Successful people are consistent--in their behavior, in their emotions, in their production, in their actions. Consistency allows others to know that you have control over yourself and that they can count on you. Think about the people you know who are not consistent--whichever way the wind blows is the way they go. You never know what to expect. You do not want people saying that about you. You want people to know the quality that they can expect from you.
- Constructive: Successful people look for ways to be constructive--ways to build, not ways to tear down. Successful people are positive, not negative. They say, "We have a challenge here. Let's look for the solution." not, "OH NO! We have a big problem. I don't know what we can do about it."
- Contentment: Successful people are content at least in part because they are centered. They know what is important to them and they are pursuing what is important to them and so they are content. Content does not mean the same thing as 'happy.' Contentment can be described as having a peaceful knowledge about life.
- Conviction: You know what you believe in and you act on it. You jump into the fray because you believe that you can make a difference and you are willing to try. Successful people stand for something. Know what that is, if you don't already.
- Courage: Courage has been defined as being afraid and doing something anyway. Successful people are not wimps as human beings. Successful people are strong. They stand up for what they believe in and act on it--even if it goes against others' beliefs (and even if it causes you to lose a friend or two along the way). People talk about the peer pressure of the adolescent years--and it is very powerful. But, I will tell you that pressure from others remains a potent force throughout your life. If you can develop your courage now, you will be successful.
- Creativity: Successful people don't get stuck in little boxes labeled "But this is how we've always done it." Be creative. Be fresh in your thinking and in your approaches to what you do.
- Credibility: Successful people are believable. Other people know that if you say it, it must be the truth and if you act in a certain way, then it must be real. Honesty is essential for the successful person.
One person can make a difference. Carefully attend to these ten secrets and see how much more successful you are - and how much more of a contribution you can make to the world.
And you're invited to check out the following resources...and here's why:
Because educators have the most influential positions in our society--and need every bit of support that can be mustered, one of the free resources that will help increase your sense of peaceful, predictable productivity is this weekly email:
**Top Ten Productivity Tips
For additional teaching resources, feel free to go to
**Owning Words For Literacy
(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., "The Ph.D. of Productivity"(tm)
Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do via seminars, workshops, writing, coaching, and consulting.