Six Habits of Generous, Successful People

What sets them apart are the simple acts we don’t see

Michael Thompson
Forge
Published in
4 min readSep 9, 2019

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Friend helping an injured team mate at urban sports ground.
Photo: Hinterhaus Productions/Getty

WWhen I was growing up, my dad told me that the fastest way to get what you want is to get to know the people who already have it.

But I didn’t really understand his advice until my wife and I moved to rural Spain to start a family. Cut off geographically from the centers of my industry, I had to create my own online networks from scratch. Since I couldn’t go into the city every day to make connections in the coaching and writing worlds, I decided to take just one hour a week to reach out online to people whose work I enjoyed. Quickly, that decision began paying dividends, as I started to build a network of people I admired — a network that today includes top businesspeople, renowned coaches, and prolific creators.

The fastest way to get what you want is to get to know the people who already have it.

It took me 15 years to follow my dad’s advice, but I’m glad I finally did. In learning how successful people navigate their own lives, I’ve managed to better steer my own. The most powerful discovery I’ve made is that successful people don’t have any hidden superpowers. They aren’t doing anything dramatically different from you or me. They’ve simply made the…

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Michael Thompson
Michael Thompson

Written by Michael Thompson

Co-creator of two cool kids • Storytelling Coach •.Fast Co., Insider, Forbes • Free storytelling guide here: https://bit.ly/3h1KZeT

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