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Why are some people highly successful while others are only mildly so and others are not successful at all? Researchers sought to examine this  in a study done in 1953 and its follow up twenty years later.

 

The Yale University graduating class of '53 was polled to discover what habits, attitudes or practices  contributed to long term success. Twenty years later, correlations were made between  success and the attitudes and practices  of the Yale grads.

 

Of course success may be measured in many ways: money, happiness, good family relationships, health, working in a career that you love and more.

 

Amazingly, not wealth, intelligence, grades, enthusiasm, attitude  or anything else seemed to determine whether one was destined to perform in life in the upper 3% of achievers, according to the study.

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 This elite top tier was distinguished only by the following three characteristics:

 

      They had specific goals

 

      They wrote them down

 

     They looked at their lists from time to time

 

 

In the category of monetary success alone-- sheer monetary wealth---the top three percent possessed more money than the other 97% combined.

 

 

The following are what I call The Directed Lists and they correspond to various parts of a person's life. Place each title on the top of a page and number the lines below. Without judging, make a list of the things you want to realize in your life. Look at the list from time to time and notice what happens:

 

 

 

1. Things I intend to achieve in my lifetime

 

2. Things I've been putting off

 

3. People I need to speak with and what I would say to them

 

4. Sacrifices I am willing to make to achieve my goals

 

5. Aspects of the kind of person I hope to become

 

6. Things I can forgive myself for

 

7. Things I can forgive others for

 

8. Insights and intuitions I am having about my life

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The Directed Lists are Copyrighted by W J O'Reilly 2021