Top 10 characteristics of successful and creative women

If you haven’t seen Wonder Woman yet, add it to your to-do list: you will be newly inspired to kick butt and take names. If you want to be all the woman you can be and achieve the great things you know you’re destined for, then there are a few things you can try to increase your chances of world domination. Turns out, women who achieve amazing things tend to have a few traits in common. Here are a few that you can attempt to cultivate or recognize in yourself.

1. Assertiveness

If you find yourself backing into requests or questions and/or constantly apologizing for yourself, then you might need to harden your assertiveness quotient. Trade in your inner pussycat for an inner tiger. Just try not to be too ferocious to over-compensate.

2. Empathy

A lot of women think that “typically female” traits like empathy are to be downplayed, when instead they should be considered an asset. Empathy means you can listen and understand where other people are coming from—their needs and feelings and desires. Learn to be understanding and intuitive, without getting derailed by sentimentality.

3. Passion

You may have lots of skill and experience, but without passion for what you’re doing, you’re likely not to elevate your work to the next stage. Loving what you do means innovating, striving, challenging yourself. And it makes the time you put in pleasurable and worth every moment of your journey to the top. Passion also brings energy, which you’ll need to persevere.

4. Imperfection

Trying to be “perfect” or expecting perfection from those around you is a one-way ticket to everyone being miserable. Really successful women know this isn’t possible all the time. Embrace your flaws. Find people who complement your strengths. And keep your head down. Be the best you can be at each thing, then move on.

5. Power

Rise to the top. Once you get there, you get to write your own rules. You’ll find, paradoxically, that the higher up you go, the easier your life gets. You’ll have more control in the kind of workplace you create for yourself and your employees.

6. Faith

Believe in yourself. Believe that you will be successful. Believe in your crazy ideas. And be ready to think on your feet in order to realize them. You could also call this ego—the confidence to get done what you need to get done (rather than the inflated head variety).

7. Adaptability

If stress flummoxes you, then you might have a hard time in your rise to success. You’ll feel more capable of handling this amount of stress at different times, of course, but in general, the more you build up your tolerance the better. Find ways to make your life as restful, de-stressed, and easy as possible. And concentrate your mental energy on the work at hand, rather than hyperventilation.

8. Courage

What would you do if you had no fear? Taking risks doesn’t necessarily mean doing reckless things, but it does mean making calculated decisions and trying things that might be considered “risky.”

9. Self care

Really successful people rest as hard as they play. They take good physical care of themselves: exercising and eating right, taking mental health days if possible, and knowing when to say "no" and when to take alone time, etc. They’re able to step away from their never ending to-do lists and do something that will keep them going with enough fuel to keep powering through.

10. Gratitude

Really successful women realize that their success did not occur in a vacuum—both at home and at work. And they are able to say thank you and express genuine gratitude and appreciation to the people who have helped them get where they are. They treat their colleagues with kindness and respect and receive respect and admiration in return.