12 Habits of Really Successful People (Mad Men Edition)BYBILL MURPHY JR. @BILLMURPHYJR

Years go by, fashion changes, but the things that really successful people do each day aretimeless.

Here's a case in point: Mad Men, the hit television show about the partners and employees ina 1960s advertising agency, now entering its seventh season. I've written before about howthe real star of the program isn't Don Draper or Peggy Olson but the advertising agency itself.More than that, if you take notes, you'll see that the plot lines and characters offer greatexamples of how to get ahead every single day--and how not to.

1. Trust your creative side.

Series protagonist Draper's title is "creative director," which has to be one of the most apt jobdescriptions ever, given his penchant for reinvention. However, he does seem to understandhow his creative mind works. Among his practices, he'll spend a lot of time thinking about acreative challenge, then forget it, allowing his subconscious mind to do the heavy lifting.

2. Fake it until you make it.

Draper is secretly living another man's life, and with the development of another character,

Bob Benson, it looks as though he's not the only one. When the firm was small, it would goout of its way to try to look bigger and more accomplished. You don't want to be dishonest ordisingenuous, but you do want to visualize what success would look like and behave as if youalready fit the part.

3. Get ahead of your customers.

Here's the key to advertising. Dealing with people effectively is about finding a way to helpthem get what they want. The challenge is that so few people are truly self-aware. Thus, yourmission is to figure it out for them and find a solution to a problem they didn't even knowabout.

4. Think bigger.

Olson rose from secretary to creative director. Joan Holloway is now a partner bringing innew accounts. Both characters have reached higher levels than they originally dreamed of,only to find that the prize for climbing a mountain is often another bigger mountain. Planschange, goals shift, but it's the people who are willing to dream bigger who actuallyaccomplish things.

5. Plan ahead.

Mad Men opened years ago with its characters facing a professional challenge. The U.S.government was about to start cracking down on cigarette advertisers, and the firm needed tofind both a new way to pitch its tobacco clients and a new direction to find more clients. Thisrequired long-term thinking that didn't exactly come naturally to all of the characters.

6. Don't be afraid to quit.

The show is about beginnings and endings, over and over and over--fired clients; firedemployees; marriages, business deals, and client engagements that the characters walk awayfrom because they're not working out. From the destruction each time comes a newopportunity.

7. Have fun.

The show is known for its unflinching look at a kind of 1960s debauchery, with all kinds of

drinking, sleeping around, and drug experimentation. It's a really unhealthy way to live yourlife, but it also seems to be the way that the characters blow off steam--and they've got a lot ofsteam. Don't become an alcoholic philanderer, but be sure to have fun (in healthier ways, Ihope).

8. Get a life.

This is where so many of the characters on the show fall down, because they have success onlyat work, and rush from one failed relationship to another. They seek to solve others' problemsonly when there is something tangible in it for them: a new client, more money, somethingthey want. Don't follow their example. Remember the old adage that on their deathbeds,people rarely say they wish they had spent more time at the office.

9. Leverage technology.

In the early years of Mad Men, the new technology was television, which was quicklybecoming the most effective medium of its time to communicate marketing messages. Part ofthe protagonists' success involved their ability to pivot and take advantage of it. Thetechnology has changed--boy, has it ever--but the lesson is the same. You can either be anearly adapter or an also-ran.

10. Enjoy the roller coaster.

If you're going to be successful--whether in building a business or elsewhere--you're going tohave a lot of ups and downs. It makes for great drama on television and for some stomach-churning in real life. If you can't enjoy that kind of volatility, then find a safer, more securepath. You'll be happier and so will those around you. Every day, remind yourself thatwhether today was an up day or a down one, there will be many others to balance it out.

11. Care for and feed your network.

Half of the characters' jobs on Mad Men are simply to manage relationships with the firm'sclients and to network and schmooze with potential new clients. Heck, Draper first got hiredafter meeting Roger Sterling, getting him drunk, and showing up the next day claiming he hadbeen offered a job. Sterling had been too drunk to remember doing it. These are some morallyquestionable choices, but that doesn't mean you can't learn from them. Every day, reach out

to at least one new person, and to someone you've been out of touch with for a while.

12. Go where the action is.

In real life, Jimmy Fallon recently moved The Tonight Show back to New York City, but in theworld of Mad Men, Johnny Carson is about to head to Los Angeles. One of the themes for thenew season is the idea of new beginnings, especially out West. Today's new frontiers are moreglobal but no less real. (As someone who has recently expanded the client base of myghostwriting business to Asia and the Middle East, I have seen this firsthand.)

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