Many of the traits of the ultra achievers we’ll be discussing today were part of the attitudes and the skill sets used by Leonardo da Vinci that propelled him to such great achievements.

Success Traits

In 2002, after spending seven years interviewing over 500 very successful men and women in dozens of areas including medicine, business, art, music, martial arts, actors and actresses, architects, inventors and numerous others, educational researcher Richard St. John concluded that there are really 8 things that help them achieve highly in their specific niche.

The 8 attributes will take you from okay performance to exceptional performance. From just being average in whatever the things are you chose to do, to being truly one of the best.

#1 Passion

The first of these 8 things was passion. He found that each of the men and women he interviewed had massive amounts of energy derived from their deep level of passion for what they’re doing. They could “feel it in their gut” was an expression that many of them used.

For example think about a sport you love, something that you really like doing or a hobby that you really enjoy. For instance, it might be hiking. When you think about hiking, you mentally imagine yourself up in the mountains or along a beach or walking a trail or perhaps going through a forest somewhere and when you imagine it you can feel it inside. It feels refreshing, it feels good, it lifts you up, makes you feel alive.

You can imagine breathing the air and feeling the environment around you as you hike. You can imagine what it’s like to put one foot in front of the other, and notice what it’s like to be in that wonderful place in nature that gives you such a lift.