Things you cannot buy

QUESTION FIVE: What Common Features define Successful Business People?

There are lots of motivational books on how the best got where they are - but there are some common threads. IMHO these are:

PASSION. If you driven by a passion for what you do, then you are not working, you are doing this for love. Best advice ? Find your passion in life. Easy to say, hard to do. PLus the passion you had in your 20s is not going to be the same passion you have in your 40s. That's life.

WORK. You are going to get out at least what you put in, if not more. Of course if you are doing something you love, being a workaholic is actually FUN.

FOCUS. You become the BEST you can be, by FOCUSING on one thing and working as hard as you can to build your talent and skill. Never ending improvement to be as good as you can be in that focus area.

And that could be anything from structural analysis of the bestselling 50 paranormals to perfecting your recipe for lemon tart - it's the quality of the eggs you know.

[This is a tough one for me, personally, since I would love to write for more than one genre, but my head knows that this is not the way to build a career, and any agent or publisher would just shake their head in despair].

PUSH. Pushing yourself, challenging yourself. And keep pushing. No complacency. Healthy sense of insecurity.

IDEAS. What makes you different and special? There are lots of other folk out there who have ideas which could work. What makes yours special?

PERSISTENCE through apparent Failure, and Criticism, Rejection and Pressure = [CR*P]. If you look at some of the lives and career paths of the rich and famous, it is a wonder they could get out of bed in the morning.

CONNECTION to other people, and customers, where you are offering them something of value or a service.

In this I feel blessed that the romance writing community is so welcoming

And one more feature which the books don't mention a lot. They just take it as read.

FUN.

And I am going to talkabout that tomorrow, because it is so important.

Now, back to Focusing on my Work with a Passion for my original Idea that only I can bring.

Only good times ahead - hope everyone has a great day.

What's playing on my YouTube right now? Aqualung. If I fall. The lyrics are stunning. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BTRVCSnq8Zg