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In fact, for eight in ten people, self-image matters more in
how they rate their job performance than does their actual
job performance.

Effort is the single most overrated trait in producing success.
People rank it as the best predictor of success when
in reality it is one of the least significant factors. Effort, by
itself, is a terrible predictor of outcomes because inefficient
effort is a tremendous source of discouragement,
leaving people to conclude that they can never succeed
since even expending maximum effort has not produced
results.

Life satisfaction is 22 percent more likely for those with a
steady stream of minor accomplishments than those who
express interest only in major accomplishments.

Even as people experience different phases of their lives,
including career and family changes, their underlying personality
remains constant after about age sixteen.

Psychologists have observed that bad habits can spread
through an office like a contagious disease. Employees
tend to mirror the bad behaviors of their co-workers, with
factors as diverse as low morale, poor working habits,
and theft from the employer all rising based on the negative
behavior of peers.

Age is unrelated to people’s commitment to their job and
their level of job performance.

Feelings of success come with the whole of your
efforts, your beliefs, your experiences, your life. Success is based on
the total package, not the ribbon on the package.

Writing down your plans, goals, and ideas makes them more
real for you. Every step you take to define what you want and what
you need to do to get it increases the chances that you will actually
pursue these goals and someday achieve them.

People who regularly keep a journal, or some kind of written
record pertaining to their aspirations, are 32 percent
more likely to feel like they are making progress in their
lives.



Teams in the workplace composed of people with differing
personalities are 14 percent more productive than
teams composed of more compatible individuals.


Defensiveness is negatively correlated with learning on
the job. People with highly defensive personality traits
speak more times in meetings, are more likely to interrupt
a speaker, and are one-fourth slower in adapting to new
tasks.


Case study research on business executives reveals that
98 percent see their position as the result of plans and
strategy and that more than half credit their use of a successful
person as an example to help define that plan.


Seven out of ten people who are satisfied with their careers
express a strong sense of order—an appreciation
for the different phases of a career and their progression
to this point.


People rate speakers who speak more slowly as being 38
percent more knowledgeable than speakers who speak more
quickly.


Albert Bandura, one of the founding fathers of scientific psychology, discovered decades ago that perhaps the best predictor of an individual's success is whether or not they believe they will succeed. Realistic optimists (the kind Bandura was talking about) believe they will succeed, but also believe they have to make success happen — through things like effort, careful planning, persistence, and choosing the right strategies. They recognize the need for giving serious thought to how they will deal with obstacles. This preparation only increases their confidence in their own ability to get things done.


Lower self-worth translates into 37 percent less willingness
to negotiate and use of 11 percent fewer negotiation
strategies. Increased self-worth correlates with greater willingness
to incur the risks of prolonged negotiation and
greater adaptability. In short, the less confidence you
have in yourself, the faster you will give up trying to get
what you want.


Volunteers are 25 percent more satisfied with their jobs,
have a better work ethic, and are more persistent in working
toward long-term goals and rewards.


People who spend more time thinking about their possible
selves, the lives they might be leading if they had made
different decisions, are 46 percent less satisfied with their
career decisions than people who do not spend much
time imagining what might be different.


Inadequate sleep reduces innovative thinking by 60 percent
and flexibility in decision making by 39 percent.


Your attitude determines your altitude


Academic achievement, regardless of the subject matter,
is characterized by an ability to decipher complex ideas
and relationships. Experiments in language, math, and
science show that the most basic building block of learning
is independently observing patterns.



People who construct their goals in concrete terms are 50
percent more likely to feel confident they will attain their
goals and 32 percent more likely to feel in control of their
lives.



Low-variety jobs produce twice as much employee
turnover and three times less job satisfaction than highvariety
jobs.



People who rate themselves as intelligent have a 47 percent
higher need for change in their professional world.
They regularly see possibilities and opportunities around
them but must be wary of allowing boredom to encourage
them to pursue change for the sake of change.




Good talkers tend not to be good listeners. Indeed, people
who think of themselves as good talkers tend to rate themselves
as extroverted, while good listeners rate themselves
as introverted. Good listeners are 60 percent more likely
to try to put themselves in the other person’s place—trying
to see things through their perspective.




People who are prone to use stereotypes in assessing
themselves and others are 39 percent more likely to
believe that opportunities are limited for others and themselves.



People who are focused on the “ideal” life they could
lead are 34 percent more likely to be anxious and selfconscious
about their lives, while people focused on the
life they “ought” to lead are more caring about other
people in their lives and actually 21 percent more oriented
toward achieving in their career.




Research comparing students of similar ability finds that
the distinguishing feature between those who maintain a
strong work ethic in their studies and those who give up is
a sense of control. Those who express a sense of control
receive scores that are a full letter grade higher than those
who do not.