Like many of her fans, Taylor Swift and her discography have been an important part of my personal story for a long time. She even became an unexpected source of inspiration at the moment of her career transition.
He quit his job as a NASA aerospace engineer and human space flight designer, pursuing an MBA at Harvard University.
At Harvard, I began to think about Swift’s journey through a professional lens. I was driven by one important question. How do seemingly ordinary people do extraordinary things? How do they become unicorns of these supercomponents?
After reading a great book by legal scholar and documentary Paul Davis, “Dedication: Case of Commitment in the Infinite Age of View,” I began to recognize many characteristics that these very successful people have in common.
In particular, there are seven characteristics that Swift regularly demonstrates:
1. Imagination
We were all born with imagination, but as we age, we often place constraints between our minds and the creative stimuli of the world around us.
It’s not quick. She transforms small sparks like phrases, emotions, and ear-hearing lines into the whole world. A great way to do the same is to start to notice more of your eye-catching fragments. Ask yourself why and then record them.
Swift understands that imagination starts with curiosity, not with invention. She is good at building the universe out of them, paying attention to the smallest and most resonating details.
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2. Synthesis
This is the ability to connect new ideas, ideas and ideas through creativity. It takes courage to create a synthesis. Because it’s not easy to rethink the world or do things in a way where there are no others.
Swift’s synthesis track record speaks for itself. Her iconic song, “Death by a Thoushour Cuts,” was actually inspired by the failure of the relationship of a female protagonist in the romantic comedy “Someone’s Great.”
However, the most well-known example of Swift’s integrated skills is “Love Story.” She reinvented and reinterpreted the romantic Shakespeare tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet” into a story with a vibrant happy ending.
3. focus
The focus is to make your goals a part of your existence. Swift does not release any makeup line or fashion brands. You don’t see her dabbles in things that aren’t important to her. Even as a teenager, performance and songwriting have been her number one priority.
And she’s been completely focused on being the best of them.
To sharpen your focus, ask yourself: Does this bring me closer to my core goals, or is it just noise? Saying no to a distraction is not a loss. It’s a way to allocate and protect the energy it needs to go deeper into the places it matters most.
4
Stubbornness is the ability to continue to do something in the face of difficulties or fight for it.
Remember those moments at a stage when Swift was sick, exhausted and heartbroken. During tours during the days when she visibly wept between songs, when heavy rain seemed to make her seemingly swimming, and when she was performing the same set millions.
Still, she was still acting as if it was the best, most monumental night of her life. Even if unicorns feel that they don’t have a passion with their dogs all the time, they are usually pretty good at pretending they have them until they can get it back.
5. passion
Even when you’ve been doing something for a while, and even after it loses its glow, passion is enthusiasm. Passion and stubbornness often seem to overlap in that they require endurance and resilience.
To rekindle your own passion, reconnect with the “why” behind what you’re doing. Ask yourself what first attracted you, and find a small way to rediscover that joy, whether through experimentation, reinvention, or persistence.
6. respect
This is the ability to give you deep respect for something.
Unless your passion is given you a sense of internal happiness and wonder, it is usually difficult to maintain your passion unless you give you the feeling that there is something greater in the world than what is in front of you and your eyes.
Reverence promotes your purpose, which promotes your passion and therefore allows you to give your full dedication to something.
7. Commitment
The ultimate feature is commitment, especially in the context of acquiring all the options to pursue this one thing. This is a commitment to recording music and tours and going to college and other career paths in Swift.
Actual commitments often require sacrifices. Ask yourself: What do I want to give up so that this goal can live? When something is an option, it feels safe. But greatness is built by people who want to bet on what they love most.
This commitment is evident in Swift’s ability to always and forever put music first.
Sinéad O’Sullivan holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and previously served as Chief Strategist for HBS Strategy and Competitiveness. She also worked at Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a professor at Stuart School of Business at Illinois Institute of Technology. She is the author of “Good Ideas and Power Moves: Ten Lessons for Success from Taylor Swift.”
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