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The Success Personality
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Is there a “success personality” —
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some winning combination of qualities
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that leads almost inevitably to achievement?
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If so, exactly what is that secret success formula,
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and can anyone develop it?
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At the Gallop Organization we recently focused in depth on success,
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probing the attitudes of 1500 prominent people selected at random
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from Who’s Who in America.
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Our research finds out a number of qualities
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that occur regularly among top achievers.
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Here is one of the most important,
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that is common sense.
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Common sense is the most prevailing quality
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possessed by our respondents.
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Seventy-nine percent award themselves a top score in this quality.
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And 61 percent say that common sense was very important
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in contributing to their success.
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To most, common sense means the ability to present sound,
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practical judgments on everyday affairs.
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To do this, one has to sweep aside extra ideas
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and get right to the core of what matters.
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A Texas oil and gas businessman puts it this way:
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“The key ability for success is simplifying.
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In conducting of meeting and dealing with industry,
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reducing a complex problem to the simplest term is highly important.”
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Is common sense a quality a person is born with,
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or can you do something to increase it?
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The oil man’s answer is that common sense can definitely be developed.
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He attributes his to learning how to debate in school.
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Another way to increase your store of common sense is to observe it in others,
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learning from their — and your own — mistakes.
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Besides common sense,
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there are many other factors that influence success:
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knowing your field, self-reliance, intelligence,
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the ability to get things done, leadership, creativity,
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relationships with others, and of course, luck.
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But common sense stands out.
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If you develop these qualities, you’ll succeed.
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And you might even find yourself listed in Who’s Who someday.