14 Characteristics of Successful People

With your pregnant daughter, sit down with a piece of paper and a pen. Give yourself one point for each of these traits that you have, and your daughter gets a point for each trait she has.

According to productivity expert Jeffrey J. Mayer, successful people have 14 traits in common. They are:
1. have a dream
2. follow a plan
3. have specific knowledge
4. are willing to work hard
5. don't take no for an answer
6. are strongly motivated
7. are focused
8. learn how to get things done
9. take responsibility for their actions
10. make decisions
11. are self-reliant
12. look for solutions
13. cooperate with other people
14. are enthusiastic

What did each of you score?
Which success traits do you lack? Which success traits does your pregnant daughter lack? What actions can you and she take to improve these areas?
Which success traits do you possess? Which does she possess? Start by acknowledging your strong points and promising yourself to improve them. Experience shows that you'll make more progress by improving your strengths than by correcting your weaknesses.

1. have a dream. What are your daughter's dreams for her child? For her own education? For her career? For her personal life?

2. follow a plan. Sit down and write out a plan of how your pregnant daughter will reach for her dreams. Exactly how will she finish her education? Exactly what training does she need for a career that can support her? Exactly what does she need to do to improve her personal life? Be as specific as possible. Add dates where possible.

3. have specific knowledge. What does your pregnant daughter need to learn about in order to follow her dreams? What does she need to learn about in order to make a solid decision about parenting/adoption, and her relationships? Where can she get this knowledge?

4. are willing to work hard. How much time and effort is your daughter honestly willing to put into being successful as a parent/spouse/employee?

5. don't take no for an answer. Does your daughter get discouraged easily? How could she improve her self-confidence and resolve so that she can tackle the many challenges she will face in life?

6. are strongly motivated. What does your daughter feel are the things that motivate her? Money? Friends? Fun? A dream? Are these motivations enough to help her face obstacles?

7. are focused. What are the focuses of your daughter's life? Does she feel she needs to change her focus to other things? If so, what?

8. learn how to get things done. Does your daughter follow-through on tasks and complete them? Does she need to learn how to break down tasks so that they aren't so overwhelming?

9. take responsibility for their actions. Does your daughter take responsibility for her actions that contributed to her pregnancy and lifestyle?

10. make decisions. Has your daughter learned decision-making skills such as making pro/con lists so that she can evaluate a decision and then stick to it?

11. are self-reliant. Does your pregnant daughter expect everyone else to cater to her whims?

12. look for solutions. Does your daughter seek solutions to her problems, or simply whine about them and hope that someone else will take action?

13. cooperate with other people. Does your daughter allow other people to help her, and does she help other people in turn?

14. are enthusiastic. What topics is your daughter enthusiastic about? Is she enthusiastic about being a single parent? Or about getting married? Or should she look at adoption so that a family that is enthusiastic about being parents can pour their energy into her child?