This idea was inspired by an article by Sherrie Campbell, published to Entrepreneur online. I wanted to reach out to my generation and go off of her ideas and make them more relatable and relevant.

Sherrie Campbell's article lists and describes the top ten qualities one needs to have in order to be an exceptional person. They are: grace, kindness, composure, fearlessness, poise, deliberate, intelligent, unassuming, truthful, and loving. That's it. These are qualities we have learned and been pushed to do since we were little kids and as we grow up to be adults. This article is brilliant because it doesn’t list theories that people need to go learn about in textbooks, but rather qualities you need to figure out within yourself first and then be able to be fully confident in your abilities. These qualities are also the most important when it comes to the work setting. One has to learn or acknowledge these qualities and then maintain them and constantly practice them because they lead to great accomplishments and many healthy relationships between co-workers, executives, and other people outside of your job and in your everyday life.

In a little more depth, you might find that you already have these qualities within yourself, or know what you might need to do to make them ever-present.

1. Grace.

Grace is the ability to be elegant in words and actions despite stress, challenges, annoyingly large amounts of homework, or a daunting amount of tasks you have to do in the week. Grace is the sense of movement a person has, their appearance, and personality throughout difficult times. Grace is a mindset that takes a long time for people to develop and it may want to slip away at times.

2. Kindness.

Self explanatory, but this quality comes naturally to those that rely on it to develop meaningful relationships. Kindness is being nice to those who may not deserve it, but you do it anyway. We all know people who are in a mindset that causes them to be self-centered, but biting your tongue instead of speaking bad about someone is an action that kindness allows, and that is something very important in relationships of every kind.

3. Composure.

Have you ever heard of self control? Well, composure is taking the hardest news, the toughest task, the hardest “no” and being able to withstand, push through, and grow from them. But, on the other hand, in times of great success and improvement, composure acts as a buffer from being too boastful.

4. Fearless.

One is able to be fearless in his or her actions by sending their résumés to places they would never imagine, or by undertaking a task that you thought you weren’t capable of, or constantly striving to be better than the day before. Remember those dreams you had as a kid? Fearless people reach for those every day and take a step closer to achieving those dreams. Fearlessness allows you to push yourself and dive for leadership roles, or a dream jobs, or to be a part of an organization you have always wanted to be in and grow remarkably as a person.

5. Poised.

Not to be confused with cockiness, being poised is being self-confident. Additionally, those who are poised want to be doing whatever they can to make themselves better for their own good and for the good of others. Having the quality of poise allows you to constantly have a demeanor that people recognize as strong and intelligent. Being poised is to see the good in your own life and the best in others.

6. Deliberate.

Being deliberate calls for being persistent and hard-working. By being clear and straight forward people know what they want and how to get it. This quality can come off wrong and intimidating to some, but it shouldn’t because getting to the point is saving both ends of the relationship time and energy.

7. Intelligent.

Intelligence is a beautiful quality to possess especially for those of us in college studying hours on end toward getting our degrees. Intelligence is the ability to think, the capacity to store what we learn, and then knowledge to live it out in our everyday actions. Intelligence allows one to see the bigger picture and develop a plan of how to get there.

8. Unassuming.

By seeing the world around us change and grow constantly, unassuming people make the world about others and celebrating the achievements around them more than their own. This quality makes one content in their own skin, so the stigma of comparison is not an issue. By being unassuming, one does not jump to conclusions about someone’s accomplishment, but rather congratulates them and see their success and a great thing.

9. Truthful.

To be authentic, honest, and faithful allows for exceptional people to be truthful in the eyes of others. Being truthful is probably a quality that we learned the moment we could all talk, or interact with our parents, siblings, and friends. Being truthful, one has to be strong, willing to accept backlash, and yet still being devoted to the quality that makes them reliable.

10. Loving.

You’ve heard it a million times before, but to be loving toward others, you must love yourself first. This is important in every aspect of life because the vibe that loving people gives is so appealing and elegant. Loving others gives exceptional people joy and they wish to do it always. Optimism is merely a state of mind and never a choice. Loving others requires you to be second in every situation.