Hard Work and Successful People: Discipline is Key

This morning, I came across a slideshow on successful people that are household names. Many of them are athletes, but all of them have one thing in common:  Discipline is essential to success. 

Max Nisen authored an article on Business Insider and provided several helpful insights. One thing that I totally agree on, is that most people call successful people "blessed" or "lucky".  However, the real truth is that good old fashioned hard work and discipline are the essential ingredients to their success.

I just really get turned off when I see someone so talented floundering and wallowing in self pity. When you look at their talents and skills and start looking closely at why they have not achieved their goals, you will quickly see that they lack discipline, passion and vision. But most importantly, do not have a strong work ethic.

The article highlighted several men and women that are really super successful and have achieved great successes overcoming several odds. Interestingly, they all start there days very early and end them very late.  They also, all have a great fitness regimen. I am convinced that when you take care of your body, you take care of your mind. There are some super successful people that are overweight, but the ones on this list are all fit and trim….

Take a look….

1. Michael Jordan – Retired NBA  Superstar spent off seasons taking hundreds of jump shots a day

2. Howard Schultz – Starbucks CEO  – Works 13 hour days and continues working after going home

3. Mark Cuban – Entrepreneur and Owner of Dallas Mavericks  – Credits "hours of hard work to his success and luck"

4. Roy Halladay – Pitcher for Philadelphia Phillies – Has a 90 minute workout before his teamates hit the field
    
5. Ryan Seacrest – AI host  – Has a radio show from 5 to 10 A.M. and appears seven days a week on E!
    
6. Venus and Serena Williams  – Started hitting tennis balls at 6 A.M. since the early age of 7 and 8 years old
    
7. Kobe Bryant – NBA Lakers superstar spend hours day and night at the training facility practicing his jump shots
    
8. Indra Nooyi - Pepsi CEO  – Worked the graveyard shift as a receptionist while putting herself through Yale.
    
9. Tim Cook – Apple CEO – Starts his day at 4:30am in the morning. He is first in the office and the last to leave

10. Marissa Mayer - Yahoo CEO  – Routinely pulled all nighters and 130 hour work weeks while at Google

     

     

     

     

Click on the following links for more on successful leaders:

16 People Who Worked Incredibly Hard To Succeed - Business Insider – Max Niesen

7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Steven Covey

The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to Follow – John Maxwell – Amazon