What makes a person successful in this modern world? I believe that techniques may have changed, but the attributes of successful people have ever been the same. As such, there is still much to learn from folks who were born over a hundred years ago.

William Maxwell “Max” Aitken was born the son of a Presbyterian minister in Canada in 1879. Through his own merits, he became a powerful businessman, founding what became the largest selling newspaper in the world. He also became a member of parliament, was knighted and was granted the title of “Baron Beaverbrook.” Without a doubt, he knew what it takes to be successful.

While he was building his own business empire, he wrote several articles for his newspapers that he later compiled and published as a book under the simple title of “Success.” In it, he explained the qualities that were driving his success.

He writes:

What are the qualities which make for success? They are three: Judgment, Industry, and Health, and perhaps the greatest of these is judgment. These are the three pillars which hold up the fabric of success.

Let’s look at these qualities individually.

1. Judgment

Lord Beaverbrook writes:

“In the affairs of the world it is the supreme quality. How many men have brilliant schemes and yet are quite unable to execute them, and through their very brilliancy stumble unawares upon ruin?”

Judgment comes by study and experience.

Earl Nightingale said that the quality of your life is dependent on the quality of your decisions. If you study your chosen field and learn from your mistakes, then your skill at judgment will increase, you’ll make better choices and lead a more successful life.

2. Industry

Lord Beaverbrook writes:

“But judgment may prove a sterile capacity if it is not accompanied by industry. The mill must have grist on which to work, and it is industry which pours in the grain.”

“The true secret of industry well applied is concentration, and there are many well-known ways of learning that art-the most potent handmaiden of success. Industry can be acquired; it should never be squandered.”

If you consistently take action, then you have the quality of industry. Your willingness to do the work is the engine that drives your success.

There can be no change, no improvement and no success without action. British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli said this, “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.”

To put it one way, your industry, your action, gets you moving, and your judgment gives that movement direction.

3. Health

Lord Beaverbrook writes:

“But health is the foundation both of judgment and industry- and therefore of success. And without health everything is difficult. Who can exercise a sound judgment if he is feeling irritable in the morning? Who can work hard if he is suffering from a perpetual feeling of malaise?”

I don’t know that much more needs to be said about that. Without health, you can neither achieve or enjoy success.

With these three qualities in mind, I imagine that success is like driving a car. If you are healthy, your car is in good repair, it runs smoothly and is capable of taking you where you want to go. If you are industrious, you are always taking action, stepping on the gas, turning the wheel and perhaps shifting gears. You’re making the car go somewhere. If you have good judgment, you pick the best route, you know when to stop and you to safely arrive at your destination.

With judgment, industry and health, you get where you want to go.