It doesn’t matter who they are – businessmen, artists, sportsmen, inventors – successful people have more things in common than you think.

These common attitudes and qualities have been very effective in helping them see things that other people don’t see, rise above their personal troubles and outperform their competitors. In other words, they have a successful mindset.

You too, can develop this mindset and harness its power to change your life. You just have to realize that half of what earns you success is being prepared

for it. Here are some ways to change your current mindset into a mindset of success:

- Have vision and focus.

Successful people are conditioned to look forward, to always ask what if and why not. It is this innate curiosity and openness for new things that help them develop a creative mind. A creative mind can see beyond the present; it can see possibilities and combinations that are otherwise unavailable to close minded people.

It is this sense of vision and tenacity of focus that keeps them crying out, “Eureka!” while everyone else are scratching their heads.

Case in point: a trucker named Malcolm Mclean, who, as he watched the contents of his truck being loaded onto a ship in 1937, thought that it would be much faster and more convenient if the trailer itself were lifted instead. He turned that idea into a vision and that vision was containerized shipping, revolutionizing the shipping industry.

- Take calculated risks.

You know stories of people who made blind leaps of faith and landed on a ton of money but they are more the exception than the rule. Successful people are not afraid of risk but rather view it not as a danger, but more of a probability that could result to a lot of possible outcomes, some of which can be very profitable.

- Don’t blame your parents.

Or anybody else, for that matter. Successful people know better than to waste time pointing fingers when things go wrong. They don’t bother complaining, instead, they roll up their sleeves and do something. They take responsibility for their action.

- Learn to give credit.

Successful people know to whom they owe their achievements. They recognize other people’s contributions and do not pretend to be who they are not.

Successful people are smart enough to recognize a higher power, regardless of their faith. It is this recognition that makes them retain a humility and a sense of integrity and charity to share their wealth and knowledge.

- Never stop learning.

Success is built upon failure and failure truly is not learning from mistakes. Successful people know that mistakes are inevitable in any areas in life but they do not take their failure for granted.

For them, failing at one thing is a surefire guarantee that they will succeed at it the next time around. Oprah Winfrey was once fired from her job in television. If she just gave up right there, she wouldn’t have known the kind of blessings that she enjoys today. - Don’t believe in luck.

Make it. People with the success mindset are unusually "lucky". Or so you think. They don’t really have magic formula; they just know how to create and take advantage of opportunities.

They prefer to focus on positive expectations rather than focusing on drawbacks. And they are not easily cowed. They are tenaciously resilient.

Always on the lookout, successful people see problems as opportunities for change. While other people see a barren land, they see a city of casinos and

hotels. Keeping a mindset that’s open to possibilities, successful people almost always find themselves in the right place at the right time.

- Learn to network.

Success-oriented people recognize the value of social capital. They know that success is not a one-man operation. They surround themselves with the kind of people whose talents, skills and knowledge can complement their own.

It doesn’t matter whether they themselves are misfits or nonconformists, they know better to choose the right kind of people to work with.

Successful people align themselves with other people who think like winners and stay away from naysayers, while keeping an ear out nonetheless. Marcian Hoff was assigned by his employer, Intel, to work with a group to design silicon chips for a hand-held calculator. They instead managed to create the microprocessor.

- Have the persistence to rise above your condition.

Successful people didn’t always start out on the right foot. Some, like designer Tommy Hilfiger and environment champion Erin Brockovich, suffered from learning disorders but they never let their condition or family life hinder them from making their way. They didn’t entirely ignore their problems, but chose to focus instead on what they could do and went after it.

Case in point: Denyce Graves grew up in the ’70s in a single-parent household that could barely make ends meet. Denyce wanted to be an opera singer but there were some obstacles to her path – she didn’t have a lot of years in training, she had to learn the foreign languages used in the operas and she was black. At the time, people didn’t think blacks could excel in opera.

Denyce instead worked harder than anyone else, even cleaned dormitories and washed pots just to pay for school. She went on to sing with Placido Domingo and won standing ovation for her debut in Bizet’s ‘Carmen’.