Summary of the 8 Secrets of Success by Richard St.John from Ted 2005

TED: Ideas worth spreading

1. Passion — Love what you do.
   Freeman Thomas says, “I’m driven by my passion.” TEDsters do it for love; they don’t do it for money.
   Carol Coletta, Radio Producer, says, “I would pay someone to do what I do.” And the interesting thing is: if you do it for love, the money comes anyway.
2. Work — Work Hard, when you have a passion for it, it will be fun.
   Rupert Murdoch said to me, “It’s all hard work. Nothing comes easily. But I have a lot of fun.”
3. Good — Be the best at what you do, practice and improve every day
   Alex Garden says, “To be successful, put your nose down in something and get damn good at it.” There’s no magic; it’s practice, practice, practice.
4. Focus — Do not get into many things at once. Put your heart and effort on one.
   Norman Jewison said to me, “I think it all has to do with focusing yourself on one thing.”
5. Push — Push yourself over the limit (your mother can give a big push)
   David Gallo says, “Push yourself. Physically, mentally, you’ve got to push, push, push.” You’ve got to push through shyness and self-doubt.
   Now it’s not always easy to push yourself, and that’s why they invented “mothers.” Frank Gehry, an Architect, said to me, “My mother pushed me.”
6. Serve — Serve others something that they see the value, and you will get the money from them.
   Sherwin Nuland says, “It was a privilege to serve as a doctor.
   You can’t serve yourself; you’ve got to serve others something of value. Because that’s the way people get rich.
7. Ideas — Be curious and don’t stop at that, solve that curiosity, then connect the dots and find out how to make people see that value.
   Bill Gates says, “I had an idea: founding the first micro-computer software company.
   There’s no magic to creativity in coming up with ideas — it’s just doing some very simple steps.
   Listen
   Observe
   Be Curious
   Ask Questions
   Problem Solve
   Make Connections
8. Persist — Fight till the end. The winner is the one who stands at the end.
   Joe Kraus, Co-Founder Excite, says, “Persistence is the number one reason for our success.”
   You’ve got to persist through failure. You’ve got to persist through crap!
   C — Criticism
   R — Rejection
   A — Assholes
   P — Pressure

Background

Richard St. John was on his way to the TED conference when a girl on the plane asked him, “What really leads to success?” Even though he had achieved some success, he couldn’t explain how he did it. So he spent the next ten years researching success and asking over 500 extraordinarily successful people in many fields that helped them succeed. After analyzing, sorting, and correlating millions of words of research, and building one of the most organized databases on the subject of success, he discovered “The 8 Traits Successful People Have in Common” and wrote the bestseller 8 To Be Great.

In his books and talks, he shares a wealth of wisdom from the world’s most successful people — knowledge that can help others succeed in their own way, whether it’s escaping poverty, building a business, raising a family, or changing the world.

Related Link: https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_st_john_8_secrets_of_success

https://www.ted.com/speakers/richard_st_john