The most highly successful people<\/strong> in business work differently. See what they do\u2013and why it works.<\/p>\n Getty<\/p>\n I\u2019m fortunate to know a number of remarkably successful people. I\u2019ve described how\u00a0these people share a set of specific perspectives and beliefs.<\/p>\n They also share a number of habits:<\/p>\n 1. They don\u2019t create back-up plans.<\/strong><\/p>\n Back-up plans can help you sleep easier at night. Back-up plans can also create an easy out when times get tough.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll work a lot harder and a lot longer if your primary plan simply has to work because there is no other option. Total commitment\u2013without a safety net\u2013will spur you to work harder than you ever imagined possible.<\/p>\n If somehow the worst does happen (and the \u201cworst\u201d is never as bad as you think) trust that you will find a way to rebound. As long as you keep working hard and keep learning from your mistakes, you always will.<\/p>\n 2. Highly successful people do the work\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n You can be good with a little effort. You can be really good with a little more effort.<\/p>\n But you can\u2019t be great\u2013at anything\u2013unless you put in an incredible amount of focused effort<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Scratch the surface of any person with rare skills and you\u2019ll find a person who has put thousands of hours of effort into developing those skills.<\/p>\n There are no shortcuts. There are no overnight successes. Everyone has heard about the 10,000 hours principle but no one follows it\u2026 except highly<\/span> successful people<\/span>.<\/p>\n So start doing the work now. Time is wasting.<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0 \u2026and they work a\u00a0lot<\/em>\u00a0more.<\/strong><\/p>\n Forget the\u00a0Sheryl Sandberg \u201cI leave every day at 5:30\u2033\u00a0stories. I\u2019m sure she does. But she\u2019s not you.<\/p>\n Every highly successful entrepreneur I know (personally) works more hours than the average person\u2013a lot more<\/em>. They have long lists of things they want to get done. So they have to put in lots of time.<\/p>\n Better yet, they\u00a0want<\/em>\u00a0to put in lots of time.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t embrace a workload others would consider crazy then your goal doesn\u2019t mean that much to you\u2013or it\u2019s not particularly difficult to achieve. Either way you won\u2019t be remarkably successful.<\/p>\n 4. Highly successful people avoid the crowds.<\/strong><\/p>\n Conventional wisdom yields conventional results. Joining the crowd\u2013no matter how trendy the crowd or \u201chot\u201d the opportunity\u2013is a recipe for mediocrity.<\/p>\n Highly successful people<\/em> habitually do what other people won\u2019t do. They go where others won\u2019t go because there\u2019s a lot less competition and a much greater chance for success.<\/p>\n 5. They start at the end\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Average success is often based on setting average goals.<\/p>\n Decide what you really want: to be the best, the fastest, the cheapest, the biggest, whatever. Aim for the ultimate. Decide where you want to end up.\u00a0That<\/em>\u00a0is your goal.<\/p>\n Then you can work backwards and lay out every step along the way.<\/p>\n Never start small where goals are concerned. You\u2019ll make better decisions\u2013and find it much easier to work a lot harder\u2013when your ultimate goal is ultimate success.<\/p>\n 6. \u2026 and they don\u2019t stop there.<\/strong><\/p>\n Achieving a goal\u2013no matter how huge\u2013isn\u2019t the finish line for highly successful people<\/strong>. Achieving one huge goal just creates a launching pad for achieving another huge goal.<\/p>\n