You'll Never Hear Successful People Say These 15 Phrases

If you want to become more successful as an entrepreneur or in your career, you can start by making a habit of talking and thinking more like the people you know or read about who are already successful.

Here are some phrases you’ll never hear a successful person say:

1. "We can't do that."
2. "I don't know how."
3. "I don’t know what that is."
4. "I did everything on my own."
5. "That's too early."
6. "That’s too late."
7. "It's too bad we couldn't work together."
8. "Let's catch up sometime."
9. "I'm sorry, I'm too busy."
10. "That was all my idea."
11. "I never read books."
12. "I'm not good enough."
13. "It's OK." (over and over)
14. "If our competitors don't have it, then we don't need it."
15. "Time off is for suckers."

One thing that makes people and companies successful is the ability to make solving their customers’ problems and demands their main priority. If a need arises repeatedly, the most successful people learn how to solve it as quickly as they can.

Instead of automatically shutting down solution-finding, successful people learn what they can in order to succeed in a project or in their career. For example, you would never see a truly successful international business consultant who travels to Italy multiple times per year refusing to learn Italian.

Pleading ignorance doesn’t make the problem go away. It just makes the asker find someone who is able to work with them to solve the problem. While’s it’s always good to be honest with those you interact with, finishing this phrase with “but I’ll find out” is a surefire way to become more successful.

The best people know to surround themselves with others who are smart, savvy and as dedicated as they are. What makes this work is always giving credit where it’s due, as due credit to you will always come back in hand. Recognize those that have helped you or made an impact and you’ll continue to earn success and recognition yourself.

You would never hear Benjamin Franklin or someone such as Steve Jobs say, “that is too early for me to be there.” If there is a networking meeting, project launch or interview opportunity at the very beginning of the day, the most successful people do what it takes to be there. Part of being successful is being at the right place at the right time, no matter if you’re a morning bird or night owl.

Along the same lines, if you’re asked to a 9 p.m. dinner by a potential business partner, and you can make it, definitely go. You may be tired the next day, but the connections you will make during a small dinner or after-hours meeting can make all the difference when it comes to your career or next project.

Truly hitting it off with someone can be a rare occurrence, but if you truly connect with someone and want to work with them, find a way to make it work. Finding people that you really enjoy communicating with don’t come along too often, so whether it’s a case study or a new business, successful people know that working with those who truly align with your personality and interests are the path to true success.

Many times, this phrase is said as filler, without any true follow up. Successful people know that if they really want to catch up with someone, they follow up to make it happen. This also builds on the idea that the most successful people have worked hard to build genuine connections and relationships within their network, without any hidden agenda. Nurturing your network means being thoughtful of others, while keeping your relationships with them on top of your mind.

If an opportunity comes their way, successful people do what it takes to make it happen. Sure, this might mean longer hours occasionally, but if you want something to work, that is what it takes. After all, according to Lao-Tzu: "Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time,’ is like saying, ‘I don’t want to.’”

Again, as mentioned in number four, the most successful people spread the wealth when it comes to doling out praise from a successful project. No idea is truly one’s own -- it’s a sum of their experiences from interacting and building off of collaborative ideas with a team. Doling out praise and encouragement is a crucial part of building a successful company and culture.

Tom Corley of Rich Habits found that rich people read (and listen to) books at a much higher rate than poor people: “63 percent of wealthy parents make their children read two or more non-fiction books a month vs. 3 percent of poor.” Also, “63 percent of wealthy listen to audio books during commute to work vs. 5 percent of poor people.” Reading non-fiction (as well as fiction) can help reduce stress, enhance creativity and boost your memory.

Part of being successful is having a high sense of self-worth. Being yourself is one trait that promises success in business and your personal life. Follow your true interests. What you would do in your life if you didn’t need money?

Successful people know when to walk away and stop taking excuses from others. If there is a bottleneck and something (or someone) is preventing you from completing a project on time, build up your business, or move you forward in your goals, then it’s time to set boundaries and decide to limit your involvement.

Copying competitors is one of the many possible deaths for most companies. True innovation comes from the flip side: figuring out what competitors aren’tdoing and fill that niche to answer a need in the industry.

True success should be seen as a well-rounded approach, one with vacations, weekends with friends and family and hours of downtime on the weekdays. While workload varies for everyone at times, taking vacation can make you better at your job.

Sometimes to get to where you want to be, the best and easiest thing to do is to simply follow the examples that others set for you.

What phrases are you going to eliminate from your day-to-day conversations and thinking?

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How Old Is Too Old to Start a Business?

Yes, Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook at 19. But Charles Flint launched IBM at 61.

While Hollywood may love the story of the college kid who starts a billion-dollar business out of his dorm room, that’s only one story. For many, life as an entrepreneur begins much later.

Consider: Legendary wedding-dress designer Vera Wang didn’t start designing clothes until she was 39. Home decorating goddess and business czar Martha Stewart didn’t get into home decorating until she was 35. And San Francisco-based angel investor and founder of business incubator 500 Startups Dave McClure didn’t invest in a single startup until he was 40. That’s all according to a pair of infographics, embedded below, created by the information designer, Anna Vital, at startup organization Funders and Founders.  

When it comes to launching a business, what a person may lack in youthful energy comes back multiplied in experience. Reid Hoffman started the ultra-popular career networking site LinkedIn when he was 36; Sam Walton started Wal-Mart when he was 44; and Joseph Campbell started Campbell Soup when he was 52.

Have a look at the two infographics below. Be inspired. And stop counting the grey hairs on your head.   

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Rich People Think Differently

If you ask Thomas Corley, being rich has very little to do with luck and everything to do with habits.

Corley, who spent five years monitoring and analyzing the daily activities and habits of people both wealthy and living in poverty (233 wealthy and 128 poor, specifically), isolated what he calls "rich habits" - and many of them are simply patterns of thought.

"I found in my research that wealthy people are by and large optimists," he says. "They practice gratitude and look at happiness like a habit."

Corley, who presents and explains many of his findings in his book "Rich Habits: The Daily Success Habits Of Wealthy Individuals" and on his website, defines "rich people" as those with an annual income of $160,000 or more and a liquid net worth of $3.2 million or more, and "poor people" as those with an annual income or $35,000 or less and a liquid net worth of $5,000 or less.

Here are 10 ways Corley found that rich people think differently, based on statements with which they identify.

1. Rich people believe their habits have a major impact on their lives.

"Daily habits are critical to financial success in life."
Rich people who agree: 52%
Poor people who agree: 3%

Wealthy people think that bad habits create detrimental luck and that good habits create "opportunity luck," meaning they create the opportunities for people to make their own luck. "When I looked at luck," Corley remembers, "a lot of rich people said they were lucky and a lot of poor people said they were unlucky."

2. Rich people believe in the American dream.

"The American dream is no longer possible."
Rich people who agree: 2%
Poor people who agree: 87%

"The American Dream is the idea of unlimited potential, that you can make it on your own," says Corley. In his study, the vast majority of rich people believed that wealth is a big part of the American dream (94%), and that the dream is still possible.

3. Rich people value relationships for professional and personal growth.

"Relationships are critical to financial success."
Rich people who agree: 88%
Poor people who agree: 17%

Not only do rich people feel that their relationships are critical to their success, but they put a lot of effort into maintaining them, making a habit of calling up contacts to congratulate them on life events, wish them a happy birthday, or reaching out just to say hello. "When I applied the hello calls and the life event calls to my own life," recalls Corley, "I ended up making another $60,000 as a result."

4. Rich people love meeting new people.

"I love meeting new people."
Rich people who agree: 68%
Poor people who agree: 11%

Hand in hand with valuing relationships comes making new ones. Rich people both love meeting new people and believe that being liked is important to financial success (in fact, it's a whopping 95% that believe in the power of likability, compared to 9% of poor people).

5. Rich people think that saving is hugely important.

"Saving money is critical to financial success."
Rich people who agree: 88%
Poor people who agree: 52%

"Being wealthy is not just making a lot of money," explains Corley. "It's saving a lot, and accumulating wealth. Many of the people I studied aren't wealthy because they made a lot, but because they saved a lot." He's trying to instill what he calls the 80/20 rule in his own children: Save 20% of your income while living on 80%.

6. Rich people feel that they determine their path in life.

"I believe in fate."
Rich people who agree: 10%
Poor people who agree: 90%

Poor people are significantly more likely to believe that genetics are important to becoming wealthy, and significantly less likely to believe that they're the cause of their own financial status in life. "Most of the wealthy people I talked to were businesspeople who weren't always wealthy," Corley explains, "but they had this attitude that they could do anything."

7. Rich people value creativity over intelligence.

"Creativity is critical to financial success."
Rich people who agree: 75%
Poor people who agree: 11%

While rich people are more likely to believe that creativity influences success, poor people are more likely to think that being "intellectually gifted" is critical. They're also more likely to believe that wealth is usually accidental. "If you look at my stats, you'll find that a lot of wealthy people were C students," says Corley. "There's more to wealth than just being smart."

8. Rich people enjoy their jobs.

"I like (or liked) what I do for a living."
Rich people who agree: 85%
Poor people who agree: 2%

"Many of the wealthy in my study loved their job - it's not an accident," says Corley. In fact, 86% of the wealthy worked an average of 50 hours or more per week (compared to 43% of the poor), and 81% say they do more than their job requires (versus 17%). Corley says it's related to the idea of creativity being important to financial success: "These people found a creative pursuit that could turn into monetary value. When you engage in a creative pursuit that can make money, the rewards are often obscene."

9. Rich people believe that their health influences their success.

"Good health is critical to financial success."
Rich people who agree: 85%
Poor people who agree: 13%

"One of the individuals in my study told me 'I can't make money in a hospital bed,'" Corley remembers. "Wealthy people think that being healthy means fewer sick days, which translates into more productivity and more money."

10. Rich people are willing to take risks.

"I've taken a risk in search of wealth."
Rich people who agree: 63%
Poor people who agree: 6%

"A lot of the wealthy people in the study were business owners who started their own businesses," Corley explains. "They became successes because they were master self-educators who learned from the school of hard knocks." In fact, 27% of the wealthy people in Corley's study admit they've failed at least once in life or in business, compared with 2% of the poor. "Failure is like scar tissue on the brain," Corley says. "The lessons last forever."

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Successful Entrepreneurs

There is a saying that there are only three types of people in the world: those who watch what happened, those who wonder what happened and those who make things happen. 

Entrepreneurs fall into the last category, of course. They are change agents, people who don’t see the world as it is but as it could be. Entrepreneurs don’t sit on the sidelines and wish for a better world. Rather they go out and create it. They don’t wait for things to be different. They are the difference.

Being forward thinkers, entrepreneurs continually push themselves to become better and do better. They are game changers. They ooze confidence and inspire greatness.

Today is a great day to become an entrepreneur because the price of admission into this elite club is free and yours for the taking.

Do you really want to succeed as an entrepreneur? Follow these five steps and you’ll be well on your way to developing the leadership qualities it takes:

1. Willingly fail and reflect. “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better,” goes Samuel Beckett's line. It's not always easy, the trying again part.

Another important thing is taking time to reflect on what went wrong. In the book The Call of Solitude, Ester Schaler Buchholz says, “Others inspire us, information feeds us, practice improves our performance, but we need quiet time to figure things out.”

In his book, Fail Up, radio broadcaster Tavis Smiley recalls lessons he has learned through reflection. He sheds light on these so-called failures that were, in hindsight, his best teachers.

You’ll only learn by failing over and over again. When you do this, you’re able to grow. And in spite of life’s inevitable setbacks, you’ll come out the victor.

2. Embrace and confront your fears. According to author Brendon Burchard, fear can be categorized in three ways, which all relate to pain. The first is loss pain, which happens when you’re afraid to move ahead because you fear you’ll lose something valuable.

The second is process pain, which inevitably occurs every time you try something new. You have to go through the process of learning to deal with it.

The last is outcome pain. This involves not getting the outcome you desired.

Burchard insists that people need to overwhelm their fears. Just as an army invades its enemy from every side, a person should do the same with fear, attacking it from every side, as if going to war. 

For Shark Tank host Barbara Corcoran, public speaking was her Achilles' heel. But she overcame it by going to war. She volunteered to teach a real estate night course in front of a small group of students to overcome her fear.

3. Practice self-discipline. This is the ability to delay instant gratification and the ability to work hard now to reap benefits later. When Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx was a boy, hisgrandmother routinely made him take piano lessons even though all he wanted to do was go outside to play. He had no idea that those lessons would lead to his eventual success. To this day, he continues to hone his craft and disciplines himself to practice playing the piano for two hours many a day.

No one sees the years of hard work you might put into an endeavor. They only see the outcome. If you want to reap the rewards of tomorrow, you must put in the work today.

4. Get some sleep. Shortly after the debut of her eponymous news site, Arianna Huffington collapsed from exhaustion and lack of sleep. She’d been working 18-hour days because she was so committed to growing her company. When she collapsed, she hit her head against a desk and found herself lying in a pool of blood.

In her book Thrive, Huffington details the ordeal and says it was a painful wake-up call. She knew she had neglected sleep and took steps to correct it.

When you get the sleep you need, you’ll feel more energized, charged and ready to tackle any problem entrepreneurship throws your way.

5. Give to others. In his book, Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success,Wharton Business School professor Adam Grant teaches the idea of generosity in a professional setting. 

For centuries, people have focused on the individual drivers of success: passion, hard work and sheer will. But things have changed. Success is increasingly dependent on how we interact with others and how much we give them.

According to Grant’s research, the most successful people are those who consistently give. Grant takes this to heart so much that he not only puts in long hours as a professor, but also as many and sometimes even longer hours giving and helping others. 

That ancient book, the Bible, was right all along: Happiness comes from giving.  

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Books Every Entrepreneur Needs to Read

Every business has its ups and downs. You lose an account, receive negative feedback about a project you’d worked hard on or have a crucial employee quit at just the wrong moment. It can be frustrating and even frightening, because your reputation and your business is on the line. But sometimes getting out of your head and learning about someone else’s experience can help you gain the necessary perspective to move forward. Here are seven books that can help. 

1.Emotional Equations by Chip Conley

It’s not everyday that a corporate leader opens up about his struggles. But in Emotional Equations, Chip Conley -- the founder and former CEO of the Joie de Vivre hotel chain -- shows that having a powerful job doesn’t insulate you from tragedy. After the breakup of a longtime relationship and several close friends committing, he wrote this book, which seeks to make sense of life through his own unique “math” formulas, such as “Joy = Love – Fear.” In the process, he healed himself and offers inspiration to others facing difficult times.

2.168 Hours by Laura Vanderkam

Most professionals these days feel pressed for time. That’s why writer Laura Vanderkam’s 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Thinkis a welcome antidote. She breaks down the tim- management techniques of the most successful professionals to show that, while we can’t have it all, we can come a lot closer to a balanced life than we might have imagined. Get ready to reclaim your gym time and eight hours of sleep -- Vanderkam shows you how it’s done. 

3.Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon

You think you’re having tough times? In Far From the Tree, journalist Andrew Solomon embeds with families facing major differences (such as having children with disabilities or those who grow up to be criminals), yet persevere with love, dignity and grace. You’ll get over yourself quickly when you can put your tribulations into context and understand that every challenge contains an opportunity for growth.

4.What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self by Ellyn Spragins

Don’t you wish you could go back in time and tip yourself off? Don’t sign that contract! Accept that dinner invitation! Don’t put off your trip to Prague! We don’t have time travel yet, but writer Ellyn Spragins offers the next best thing in What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self, a compilation of “letters to my younger self” from 41 famous women, including Madeleine Albright, Queen Noor, Eileen Fisher and more. Everyone has struggles but as Spragins discovered in the process of writing the book and collecting the essays, it can be cathartic to reflect back on what you’ve learned in the process. 

5.From the Jungle to the Boardroom by Mike Monahan

Business is tough but serving in the Vietnam War is a lot tougher. In author Mike Monahan’sFrom the Jungle to the Boardroom, he shares engaging stories about life during wartime and applies them to contemporary business challenges. If you think your clients are querulous, try the near-feral, mine-sniffing dog Monahan is required to partner with in the Viet Cong-infested jungles. Monahan’s short vignettes will help you see business challenges in the proper light. 

6.The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

As entrepreneurs, we dream of great wealth and success, right? The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s American classic, is an important reminder that our values and integrity have to come first. Fabulous mansions, lavish parties and a killer wardrobe are great but not if it means lying about your identity and destroying those around you. Of course we aim for success, but not at any cost. This book is a bracing reminder that character matters most. 

7.Manage Your Day-to-Day, Edited by Jocelyn K. Glei

When you’re discouraged, it’s easy to feel paralyzed, resulting in your most important projects languishing. That’s why sometimes, the best antidote is just getting things done.Manage Your Day-to-Day, a compilation of essays from 20 thought leaders edited by Jocelyn K. Glei, provides concrete tips for turning ideas into reality. If you’re feeling stuck, this book is a dose of inspiration and practical help. 

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