As I have interviewed and researched serial entrepreneurs like Andy Kurtzig*founder of JustAnswers(r)I’ve learned that really everyone shares a couple of key personality traits. They also usually have immediate family members who had these same abilities. We’ll avoid the breeding or nature debate at this point, as it’s not relevant how they get these abilities as much as it’s important to understand that they have these traits. Let’s look at some of the quotes that are some of my favorites and then break them down to produce the top three traits that successful people possess. And the final question is: “Can you achieve these traits, or even more, do you already possess them?”

Here are my favorite quotes about success and failure…

1) “The phoenix must burn to emerge.” -Janet Fitch

2) “What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate.” -Donald J. Trump

3) “It’s a problem, not a catastrophe.” -Donald J. Trump

4) “Failure is not fatal, but failure to change could be” – John Wooden

5) “Only those who dare to fail a lot can achieve something great.” -Robert F. Kennedy

6) “While you’re going to think anyway, think big.” -Donald J. Trump

7) “It is failure that gives you the proper perspective of success.” – Ellen Degeneres

8) “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: what counts is the courage to continue.” -Winston Churchill

No one in their right mind would take all these names from science, real estate, entertainment, wartime leader and say they have something in common. They would be wrong. There are three common themes running through all of these statements that I completely agree with with my conclusions after more than a decade of interviewing and researching people with the three attributes of success.

What are these three attributes…

1) Drive. Even in the face of almost certain defeat, the basketball player wants those last three points on the board. The wartime general will keep the city in early and certain defeat. A TV host like Ellen, etc. he has the drive to get up in the morning and perform some local show, or his first stand at a low-end bar and have the drive to keep going.

2) Optimism. Regarding the point of the number “1” above. This leader or cheerleader has to believe in their own minds that they will get better. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s not a train! It’s also what I call the evolutionary part of the success formula. You are optimistic that you can fix or evolve your strategy and still succeed later.

3) Great Thinker. Again, without the number “1” and the number “2” this attribute cannot exist. If you’re going to build a ten-unit apartment building, why not 500? If you can make 50 people laugh at the bar, why not a million? If you can take a bridge or a city, why not all of them?

In short, my quote that I derive from all my research is “Fail, evolve and keep going!”

I read an article on failing recently written by one of my LinkedIn(r) contacts who describes herself as “Deborah/Hodges” and she wrote an article titled “When Is It OK to Fail?” In this article, she describes what I call the evolution part of my earlier quote when she wrote this: “But was it a flop? On paper, yes. For me personally though, it was a huge success. I’m still a bit upset that I didn’t.” t do more in terms of street uptake…”

Therefore, to be successful in any undertaking, on TV, as a leader, or as a normal older person, you either have these traits from your childhood or you spend the better part of a decade training yourself to possess these traits. I propose that every person, whether they are mentally challenged, their local mechanic, a pizza parlor owner, or ANYONE on this planet, can be successful by “failing, evolving, and moving on.”

PS: Good luck my partner”successors“! * Andy Kurtzig did not approve of, and is not aware of, this article. Ellen, Churchill and Trump did! Just kidding!