I hope you’re crushing it this week and kicking off the last quarter of the year strong. I want you to know I wasn’t always successful and because I never trusted my talents, my looks, my luck, and had no connections, I studied what successful people did and tried to mimic them. Then I studied what unsuccessful people did and tried to avoid it. While there are many things that seem to differentiate those who are successful from those who are not I have noticed one distinct difference that stands out the most: successful people are more willing. What exactly are they more willing to do? Here are five key ways the successful differentiate themselves: 1. The willingness to fail. The old saying, “No risk, no reward,” is a lifestyle for those who are successful. These people go for it, almost with a willingness to fail. Of course, they aren’t interested in failing, but know if they aren’t in a position to fail they aren’t in a position to win. At some point in life you will have to go for it or you will live the rest of your life regretting what you didn’t risk and the rewards you never had the opportunity to get. Unsuccessful people always play it safe. They don’t speak up or offer ideas because they operate from a place of fear and uncertainty. They’re afraid to take risk and fail because they are concerned with the judgment of others. They do the minimum and try to fly under the radar. Never be afraid of failure because behind every mistake is an opportunity to learn what not to do in the future. 2. See excuses as opportunities. Successful people know that no matter how many excuses are made it will not change the outcome. Even justified excuses will not make a project, person, or situation turn out successfully. When things go wrong, the successful person sees it as an opportunity, not an impossible wall that cannot be overcome. Unsuccessful people spend a lot of time, energy and effort making excuses. They blame the economy, the customer, prices, competition, or anything else other than themselves. Even if the “excuses” are true or factual, it won’t improve the outcome. No matter how justified you are, never make an excuse for any outcome—ever. 3. Exercise incredible drive. The most successful people I know are driven on an almost unbelievable level. They push and shove until the job is done and the targets are hit—and then they go at it all again. They are able to stay focused on getting results. They keep going forward and doing the hard things, even long after others have fallen into complacency and are only doing what is comfortable. Unsuccessful people appear to spend a lot of time considering emotions that cause them to slow down, settle, or even stop. Then they rationalize how those feelings and emotions should be resolved and satisfied. What they don’t seem to understand is the mechanism of drive is a muscle that must be developed by practicing massive motivation and actions that do not conform to society’s definitions of success. If you want to get more drive for success in your small business, I’m hosting a LIVE webcast with Hall of Fame Quarterback Fran Tarkenton. Sign up for the first chapter of Fran Tarkenton’s bestselling book The Power of Failure and his 7 Business Maxims for free here.