These 5 Character Traits Inspire Happiness and Success Even in Tragic Times

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div> <div class="article-page-deck inc_editable_area" data-editable-area-class="EditableArea" id="deck" style="border: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 2px; min-width: 20px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 640px;"> <div class="article-page-deck inc_editable" data-content-id="59719" data-content-type="article" data-editor-class="InlineTextEditor" data-editor-label="Deck" data-editor-variant="singleline" data-fieldname="inc_deck" id="deck-editable" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 20px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; width: 640px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="font-size: large;">-</span></b></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit;">BY </span><a href="http://www.inc.com/author/larry-kim" rel="author" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">LARRY KIM</a></div> <div class="article-page-deck inc_editable" data-content-id="59719" data-content-type="article" data-editor-class="InlineTextEditor" data-editor-label="Deck" data-editor-variant="singleline" data-fieldname="inc_deck" id="deck-editable" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; min-width: 20px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: top; width: 640px;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span style="font-size: large;">How 5 inspirational people found their silver linings and experienced unlikely successes.</span></b></span></div> </div> <div class="PageShareContainer" id="PageShareContainerUpper" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 15px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="ShareBox PageShareBox" id="ShareBox-579" style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> </div> </div> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img src="http://www.inc.com/uploaded_files/image/1940x900/too-much-optimism-bad-glass-half-full_31116.jpg" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: 668px;" /></span><br /><div> <br /></div> <div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When life gets you down, how do you not only recover, but come out better than before?</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Five inspirational people turned tragedy into a springboard to greater business success and personal happiness, thanks to these character traits:</span></div> <h2 style="border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 8px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">1. Unstoppable Drive</span></span></h2> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Raised in poverty by a single mother, Jane Miller was driven from a young age. She graduated second in her class, attended college, and went on to earn her MBA at SMU.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jane's corporate life was successful and lucrative. At 24, she started out in an entry-level position with Frito-Lay. Jane was surrounded by Ivy League-graduate co-workers with pedigrees and far more work experience. Even so, Jane was promoted her first year.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Over the next 20 years, she would hold positions of great power, managing $1 billion business divisions and leading her peers.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When her husband left her, citing her commitment to her work more than to her marriage, Jane struggled. When he became ill with cancer, she faltered. Her priorities changed forever when he tragically lost his fight in 2002.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She created JaneKnows.com to help other women navigate the tricky world of big business. Jane was ready for a career move of her own, too--she became CEO of Rudi's Organic Bakery.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I run a company with products that I believe in, I live in a location that nourishes my soul, and I have time for a personal life," she says. "I have worked for many companies where I did not care about the products; I have lived in many locations that I hated; I know what it is like to not have time for a personal life."</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jane's drive led her to great professional success, but today it's helping her find personal happiness as well.</span></div> <h2 style="border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 8px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">2. Empathy</span></span></h2> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Irina Jordan's 22-year old brother was killed in a home invasion and burglary. Years later, she unexpectedly lost a close friend, resurfacing the devastation of the death of her brother.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Once afraid to let go of the stable corporate environment, Irina was inspired to take a giant leap of faith.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"My brother lived his life to the fullest, and to honor it, I've been on a quest to face my fears, and pursue my passions," she says. An artisan at heart, Irina left her job and launched Artisurn.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Now, she spends her days crafting items people can display in their homes or wear close to their hearts to honor their lost friends, relatives, and pets.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"I was able to start talking to people outside of my immediate family and finding joy in my everyday life. That was when I knew I am healing, and I said to myself that my life is a gift that I should not take for granted," she said.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Irina found happiness and success in business through her empathetic nature and a desire to help others.</span></div> <h2 style="border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 8px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">3. Resourcefulness</span></span></h2> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">William Dockery escaped the poverty of his upbringing only to return home, years later, a widower and single father. This time, though, he built a successful business that brings in over $9 million in annual revenue.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Raised in poverty in rural Appalachia just after World War II, he spent eight years in the Air Force, and eventually earned his electrical engineering degree on the GI bill. Eager to make something of himself, William became a businessman and engineer, in Boulder, Colorado and in Silicon Valley.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">These were happy times for William, his wife and two young children. Work was good. Home was good. Life was good.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The death of his wife in 1992 to a staph infection that started as a simple cut on her finger was a stunning loss.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">William needed his family's support in raising his two small, now motherless children--but they were back in North Carolina.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In order to survive and thrive back home, William knew he needed to be resourceful.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"When I finished my small business presentation to the Vicor Board of Directors in 1995 and received the first start-up funding check, I knew things were going to change for the better," he says.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Did it ever. Aegis Power Systems Inc. is certainly atypical for the region.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"As part of the agreement with Vicor, I was able to access their marketing group and have access to existing accounts. Having a good financial partner allowed me to concentrate on organizing and growing the business," he explains.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">William's resourcefulness drove his success in a situation where it was highly unlikely.</span></div> <h2 style="border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 8px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">4. Tenacity</span></span></h2> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Joan Frances Moran lost the love of her life and her screenwriting partner in her later years, but it wasn't her curtain call. At 60, Joan began teaching yoga.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Losing my significant other was deep and profound," Joan tells me. "He had given me so many tools for living, mental and emotional survival skills."</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Her decision to take the yoga training her partner had pushed her to do changed Joan's life. After all, how many people switch careers and decide to push their bodies even harder well into their sixties?</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She had no idea what her journey would look like, she says, but was determined to complete her training. And she did.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In fact, Joan went on to teach, create a corporate wellness program, become a motivational keynote speaker, and author her book, <em style="border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">60, Sex & Tango: Confessions of a Beatnik Boomer</em>.</span></div> <h2 style="border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 8px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">5. Ingenuity</span></span></h2> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The global fitness trend Sarina Jain had started stemmed from the sudden loss of her father to cardiac arrest when she was just a teen.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Masala Bhangra is the dance workout Sarina created to honor her father and to promote a healthy lifestyle. Her unique blend of Indian folkdance <em style="border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">bhangra</em> with exotic Bollywood moves and modern dance became an international sensation.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Teaching classes and creating videos of her dance workout set to the beat of Indian music helped Sarina keep her father's cultural influence alive.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She landed a spot hosting the first Indian dance program on Discovery Channel's FitTV. Eventually, she would sign a sponsorship deal with Nestle that saw her creation featured on millions of breakfast products.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Staying focused on creating Masala Bhangra helped me to keep my Dad's spirit alive and allowed me to create something productive out of my grief," she says.</span></div> <h2 style="border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 8px 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Where Does Your Happiness and Success Come From?</span></span></h2> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">These 5 people inspire us to find our own silver linings and to build something awesome from the ashes of personal tragedy.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.9em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">What has inspired you to focus on finding happiness or led you to greater success? Share your story in the comments!</span></div> </div> </div>

These 5 Character Traits Inspire Happiness and Success Even in Tragic Times

- BY  LARRY KIM How 5 inspirational people found their silver linings and experienced unlikely successes. When life gets yo...

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