With a simple internet search, you’ll quickly realize that there is a plethora of resources designed to equip you with the qualities you need to rise to the top and be the ultimate success.  While these can be very interesting and even helpful, there are many other practical attributes that often get dismissed in the process.  The development of leadership qualities often tends to take the forefront in the “how to succeed” literature in the blogosphere, and there is no doubt that these are attributes you cannot be without in order to make it and maintain your hard earned success. However, it might be time to take a closer look at the lesser noticed but nonetheless highly valuable skills sets that will assist in growing your business and helping you reach the goals you want.

Regular Reading- Informational and Otherwise

Reading. Boring? Maybe. But not if you’re doing it right.  Outside of your regular workload, do you read anything that expands your mental capacity? Are you learning anything new? Chances are that if you are not reading anything new, your ability to process information is diminishing, or at best stagnating.  The creativity it takes to succeed doesn’t just happen – it comes from being able to focus as well as gain vision.  Vision comes from constructing a picture in your mind based on word description; this can be fiction, non-fiction, and even directions.  It provides an exercise in fine-tuning your ability to focus on one particular task while improving memory.  Furthermore, one of the most underrated and overlooked values of becoming well-read in today’s society is a markedly improved vocabulary, along with communication smarts, and refined oratory prowess. Any successful individual will tell you that speaking well is key. Creativity is great.  Creativity you can communicate?  A priceless characteristic.

Secretarial Know-How

Don’t forego what you might regard as menial tasks and the dexterity it takes to do them, and concentrate solely on power in your drive to become successful.  If you can’t operate a multi-line phone system, run the all-in-one fax/printer/copier in the center of your office complex, alphabetize those files and touch type, you will not be as successful as you hope to be. Why? Because you can’t multi-task.  Secretarial know-how is defined as multi-tasking savvy. Organizing, scheduling, answering calls, performing the art of touch typing with finesse and running that all-in-one office machinery at the same time is something that keeps any office running smoothly. Secretarial dexterity ensures you won’t soon forget how to manage these humble but vital tasks. Keep doing some of your own secretarial work.  This skillset is the lifeblood of success, and it will keep you appreciating those who work under you.

Appropriate Optimism

Having a good attitude and outcome-driven outlook is important.  Also important is appropriate optimism.  Many people sacrifice honesty for optimism in the hopes that it will be the magic ingredient to changing a flat-lining operation. Becoming discouraged is not helpful either. What you need is a fine balance between the two extremes.  No one appreciates the sugary, hyperactive optimist when the reality of difficulty is facing them. This often reads as disingenuous (even deceitful) to your workplace contemporaries.  On the other side, the doomsday, freakout, all-is-lost approach kills any creativity and productivity you might have otherwise inspired.  Without losing sight of the situation – good, bad or indifferent – you will rouse others to their fullest potential by building your reputation as someone who can be counted on to be honest about the circumstances.  Sometimes the optimism comes from your ability to get creative (and here’s where you can rely on your well-read mind). Sometimes it’s communicated by your willingness to lend a hand in menial task accomplishment (where your secretarial know-how shines) that creates an atmosphere of caring, teamwork, possibility and optimism.

In closing, you don’t rise to the top by dusting off your prior experience, and not solely by the latest and greatest tips on success.  You rise to the top by polishing even further the attributes you may once have assumed were a waste of your time, the attributes you assumed you would get to never do again once you succeeded. Never forget where you came from, and you’ll never struggle to remember where you’re going.