Have you ever wondered why some people succeed so much in what they do in life while others do not? Well, here are 7 things successful people do to improve.

Try them out. They should help succeed in your goals. Who knows, you may become an icon in your community or online.

1. They set goals persistently.

A major thing people do to improve themselves and one of the seven things successful people do to improve is to set goals for themselves. You cannot improve in anything you do unless you set some targets and achieve them. Successful people understand that you can never be too good at what you do or too successful in your trade. You always have a goal to achieve.

You always have to do something that no one before you did. Steve Jobs had this type of mentality and look at what he built. Apple is now the most highly valued company in the world.

2. They have the right networks.

You cannot succeed alone. You need a network of people who know things that you do not know. You should listen to their expert advice, analyze it, and then implement it if it makes sense. Do not rely on your wisdom in everything you do because you cannot know everything.

Get a good accountant, a professional lawyer, an excellent human resource manager, and a strategic thinker among others. Start connecting with the high and mighty in your society because they have the ability to make or break business deals.

3. Take responsibility for your actions and learn from your failures.

Taking responsibility for their actions is another one of the things successful people do to improve themselves. You will never be successful if you do not accept responsibility for your actions even if it is just in private. Without doing so, you would never learn from your mistakes. Instead, you would blame others for your failures and doing that will cost you many good friends.

If you learn from your mistakes, you can correct them and even prevent them in future. You can build stronger relationships with those around you and generate better ideas than you did before you took responsibility for your actions.

4. Family is everything.

People who succeed focus on their families incessantly. They have to groom the heirs to the family fortune so that their effort to build this fortune does not go to waste after they die. Knowing that someone will take over their businesses motivates them to work harder.

They want to make sure they can hand over a strong and prosperous estate. By doing so, their name will live forever and their grandchildren and great grandchildren will hear stories about them.

5. Take care of your body, mind, and spirit.

You cannot be successful if your body is unable to handle the pressure that comes with working hard. You have to keep it healthy with exercise and a healthy diet. You also have to have a sound mind for you to make the right decisions at the right time.

Doing so is impossible if you have too much stress. Finally, you have to be in good spirit for you to think clearly. You also cannot enjoy life or interact with others positively if you are in a bad mood persistently. Take care of yourself so that you can expand your wealth and enjoy it while you are at it.

6. Discover what really motivates you then Do It

“When you stop chasing the wrong things, you give the right things a chance to catch you.” ~ Lolly Daskal

This is a good quote to think about when you’re at work, especially if you’re doing something you dislike.

Imagine yourself being very successful in your current job. More than likely you may find yourself working very hard. This will probably take up most of your time.

Should the job be one you hate, then being successful at it could mean filling your life with something you hate to do.  If that’s the case what’s the sense in this?

In such cases, why not focus on doing something meaningful to you, something you love? After you’ve found what you’re passionate about, that gives you the motivation to keep going. Success in this newfound passion can mean the fulfillment of your dreams.

Not sure what you really like to do or what motivates you? There are ways to find out.

In the event you’re not successful, at least you spent your time doing something you love to do.

7. Challenge Yourself is something you need to do to Improve

Your goals need to be just out of reach. Don’t make it so hard or practically impossible for you in your particular situation.  If you reach for an impossible target, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

On the other hand if you stick to what’s easy for you you’re denying yourself the satisfaction of achievement. Probably in that case only minimal change will happen. You’ll need to take a middle ground approach.

Although at the time I didn’t know it. But challenging myself was one of the things successful people do to improve themselves. I set out on a challenge to buy a home even though I didn’t make enough money to qualify for a loan.

Here’s an example of the goal I decided to aim for.  Back when I became a programmer trainee I was the oldest at 31 years old. Most of the other trainees were fresh out of college and in their early or mid-20s. Most of them were buying their own homes. Although our salaries were good they were not enough to buy a home in high-priced Southern California.

I decided I wanted a house too but I wasn’t able to qualify since I wasn’t married. Or my parents weren’t able to give me the money for the downpayment like the others. What did I do to be able to get my first house? I brainstormed various ideas I came up with.

I worked two years to get some programming experience. Then I switched jobs three times over the next couple of years, each time with a big increase in salary. Finally my salary was high enough to qualify for my first house about three years later. That turned out to be the first of over a half-dozen houses I ended up buying.

How did I do it? I made up my mind that if other people could buy houses with little or no money I’d do it too. I went to several real estate seminars. I got several tips from them which enabled me to buy houses with little or none of my own money. Also I learned how to effectively create mortgages where I was the one being paid instead of the bank or mortgage company.

Make the final stretch goal in your quest toward personal self-development something reasonable, but difficult to achieve. Be persistent and never give up.