Most people would agree that success is having a happy personal life, doing well at a job, and making at least enough money that you don’t have to stress. But what makes a person successful?

Success factors

Hard work and determination are a couple of other success factors, but there’s more to it than that. In fact, those may not be the primary secrets to what makes a person successful.

Lately I’ve noticed something else about the people I know who seem to be successful: they’re filled with enthusiasm and confidence. They see the bright side. While to outsiders it may seem as though they magically catch all the breaks, they just let the negatives they do encounter wash over them.

A big part of what makes a person successful is that while they make mistakes and face obstacles just like the rest of us, they don’t spend their time moaning about it. You won’t hear a litany of complaints about how they have to work so hard to pay their mortgage bill or how it’s not fair that the person in front of them at the grocery store got a discount when they didn’t.

Nope, they’re people you just plain want to be around.

A positive spin

They put a positive spin on things, no matter how mundane.

They got a great deal on their mortgage and are excited to watch the balance drop as they pay it down. They buy one of those “donate $2 toward the food bank” cards while the other person is getting their discount at the grocery store, and count themselves lucky to be able to do so.

They’re confident that they can either handle things themselves, or that there will be people willing to help them do so. More importantly, they’re friendly and willing to help out others.

When people want to be around you, good things happen. Especially when you actively and regularly seek those good things out, and then work on them with passion. That’s what makes a person successful.