Living a successful, more abundant life is something everybody wants. Who amongst us wouldn't want to be surrounded with the things capable of filling our lives with happiness? We have only one go 'round at this thing called life and we each deserve to live it as abundantly as we choose.

The best thing about the word success is it has no one, single definition. As a matter of fact, there are roughly 7 billion people who call the planet earth home which means the word success has roughly 7 billion distinct definitions. How you define success for yourself is as unique as your thumb print and nobody else will define it in exactly the same way.

And keep in mind that the word success is not necessarily synonymous with wealth. Some people may include wealth in their definition of success and others may not.

Having said that, there are numerous traits commonly found amongst all successful people regardless of how the word is individually defined. Here are the first four of those traits-

Success Trait #1

Evolution – Basically, to have more you must become more. To put it another way, your ultimate success is a reflection of the value you can bring to other people. Whether you seek greater success in business, in a personal relationship or any other area of your life, you must be able to deliver more value to others.

Success Trait #2

No Excuses - You are the one who can propel yourself
on to live the life you dream of or the one to hold yourself back to live a life of mediocrity. And which path you travel will be determined by whether or not you go out and make things happen or you make excuses. The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse. Which person are you?

Success Trait #3

Your Universal Grand Plan – Each one of us has been put on this planet to fulfill a specific role. Everybody has some unique gift to contribute to the world. And when that gift is discovered, a fulfilled and successful life naturally follows. As Deepak Chopra says, "The universe has no spare parts". Do you know what your universal grand plan is? If not, you owe it to yourself to find out what it is.

Success Trait #4

Niche Yourself – Find what it is you love to do and use whatever that might be to serve others. The more people you're able to serve within your chosen niche, the greater your chances of success. Also, keep your niche sharp and focused. There is no single recipe for success but there is a certain recipe for failure and that is to try and serve everybody.

There are many ingredients that a person will blend into their own personalized success formula. And even though the exact ingredients differ for each of us individually, a number of them are the same for all of us. The traits outlined above are pretty common to success. You will develop your own formula but at the same time it's important that you practice these, and other, common success traits.