Character

"Character is what you do when no one is looking"
- Jackson Browne

I don't know who Mr. Browne is but I must agree. I'm a strong proponent of doing some things "just because" sometimes. For example, when I was a child I would never walk down the hallways of the apartment building, that didn't make sense to me. Why walk when you can run? So I ran unless someone was watching, you know, because I didn't want Them to know I was crazy.

A couple others: I like to hold doors for people and I like to hand out fashion complements (although the value of which, coming from me, is subjective). I don't have to do these things and in all reality I'm not going to get anything in return; I do them just because.

This is relevant because it applies directly to success. Reading annual reports, building and playing with financial and statistical models, reading and thinking about financial information... you get the idea. I think that if you can put these into your character through desire and effort, you have a much higher probability of getting whatever it is that you want. Hell, rumour has it, if you do it well enough you'll wind up with more than you wanted.