There are ingredients that make one truly successful. Let's try to look at some of these ingredients.

Successful people are smart. They would not be successful if they are not. This does not mean however, that you have to have an above average Grade Point Average to make it, although having one would not hurt. Most successful people are smart in a practical way. Call it street smart if you like but smart people will always thrive.

I say this because I personally know of very intelligent people who never got to the top. They were class valedictorians but their achievements does not speak well of what they have accomplished in school. However, I know of some who were failures in school but succeeded in their chosen career or business. The difference? These people were smart than intelligent.

Next, successful people are socially connected. Successful people know that to go to the top, one needs all the support he or she can get. I was once in a party and from a cursory look at the crowd, I immediately knew who the go getters were and who were the fence sitters. The go getters were mingling, armed with their smile and their color business cards. They were exchanging business card printing with people who they think would be able to give them a boost.

Successful people take action. While the fence sitters wait for things to happen, successful people seize every opportunity. Call them risk takers if you like, but these people take advantage of any situation and makes these instances an opportunity to step up the success ladder.

Risk takers do things even when they don't feel like it. A lot of us do not want to do things even if we know that that experience can and will eventually bring wonders. Successful people may not always like doing some of the things they have to do but they do them anyway. This makes all the difference.

Successful people focus on what is important. Our daily tasks consume most of our waking hours but do they add any value? That is the question one should think about. As we go along our daily routines, ask yourself if what you are doing right now is actually adding value to you as a person, to your career or your business. Every one of us should focus on what is important and not what is urgent.

Finally, these people have found their own purpose in life. There are people who are now in their twilight had yet to find their purpose. Successful people find their purpose early in life. They do have an advantage because they can devote all their efforts towards attaining this purpose. This is what sets successful people apart.