7 traits that define character for success

Here are 7 traits that define character for success: Zest, Grit, Optimism, Gratitude, Social Intelligence, Curiosity, Self-Control.

In analysing my path, I can see how the presence of all 7 has led to success and, most importantly, fulfillment, and how the absense of even 1 of these has led, at least in part, to a failure, giving up, or stepping out.

As a young achiever and self-challenger grown up in a countryside, I got into the best business school in the Northern Europe, the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga. It's 2 am at a friend's bday party, and I casually let everyone know that tomorrow is an admissions exam, and I'm not going. I did not believe I would pass. "What?! Get up and leave now!" It took a little push from everyone as I had decided not to travel 250km (155mi) for the exam. I was challenged at high school to get my A's, and showed the right traits in my essay to pass the first selection process. Tipsy, sleepy, after a 1h drive with a friend's friend, another 4h on the train, and some short confusion in the capital about where to go (I called an info line for help as navigating with a phone was not a thing back then), I passed the exam easily. And interviews afterwards. All the 7 of traits worked in my favor, driven by the challenge.

But the excitement was short-lived as the lack of some of the traits kicked in. I was not very CURIOUS about finance at that time. My SELF-CONTROL was failing me. I would just get up and leave the auditorium in the middle of a class to join a new venture's founding team for lunch, or skip a class to sleep after working all night.

My ZEST was diverted to other things - entrepreneurship, the opposite sex, etc. After some time, my GRIT gave up. Some of my classmates were wearing suites & ties with blue shirts from day one, talking about the stock market and the Big Four. I was into launching businesses, hacking growth, reading Harvard Business Review on the latest innovations, tech, behavioral research, and how to buy a Range Rover to impress my girlfriend.

A few years later, when I started and managed a live entertainment company, all 7 traits were in place again. I loved it, ready to give up sleep, eating, or socializing, everything for the night before the event, when local and touring production teams worked together to build the stage and install the show's equipment, and the show day with attendees and artists enjoying it. A few years went by, and I was worn out from the hustle and bustle. SELF-CONTROL started to lag, and with it, the whole business.

Defined & tested by Angela Duckworth at Penn State University, Dave Levin, at KIPP Foundation and Dominic Randolph at Character Lab, 7 character traits are presented as life defining, but I think that they can also be trained and maintained to achieve success in specific areas. If you possess most of the characteristics and really want badly to achieve the success in the specific endevaor. Keeping track of all 7 is the key.