Can You Guess This “X” Factor In Personal Power?

In the last 20-years I have achieved some great things in both my personal and professional life.  I have been in the executive ranks fo Fortune 500 companies, a highly paid consultant and now a successful entrepreneur with a beautiful family and lots to be thankful for.  Personal power has been something I have both strived for and something I have tried to be a student of for many years.

Over those years I have come into touch, and have made great friends with other high-achievers – some of which I would call successful (happy, balanced and professional achievers), some not so much so (addicts, work-a-holics, broken relationships, etc…)

A great perspective from which to disocver patterns that differentiate highlly successful people from all others don’t you think? 

The Personal Power "X" Factor

Certainly, there are a handful of common patterns among the most successful people – persistance, goal setting, relationship builders are a few that come to mind.

But, there is another, more important factor that almost nobody identifies at first – what I call the "X" factor in my upcoming book on the topic of achieving greatness…

It’s also the factor that often attracts just as much jelousy and negative attention to high achievers – even though they do not threaten anyone.

The personal power trait is best described as…"They do NOT accept the standard definition of what is possible"

Think about how damned irritating that is for the rest of society when you get this maverick in that simply ignores (not defies) limitations, previous notions of what is possible and all of the politics and things that get in the way for most of the rest of us.

At work, this person is often looked at as a "dreamer", a "kiss ass" because they don’t worry about who they need to make friends with to achieve their goals, and can make you look very petty as you focus on the obstacles to achieving while they operate as if there are no obstacles in their way.

Whatever the image – there’s no doubt, they have personal power.

At first, I used to think – are they really that naive or stupid to notice there are major obstacles?

On the contrary – they are well aware of them – but simply choose to ignore them completely setting their own definition of what is achievable.

This is an extremely consistent and important factor in anyone I have known who has achieved breakthrough success. Not only do they over-achieve, but they are much happier people because they don’t always focus on the negatives that stand in their way.

What do you think – does this "X" factor ring true for the high-achievers you have come into contact in your life?