What do all successful traders have in common?

In the summer of 2010,  I traveled to Manhattan from my home in Philadelphia to meet with Roy Davis of  SMB Capital for the purpose of checking out  SMBs    intraday  equities training program. While I am an income options spread trader myself,  my premise was that  intraday equities trading and options income trading  were not at all mutually exclusive  and that I could enhance my overall trading skills by becoming proficient at day trading.

In addition to meeting extensively with Roy that day,  I also had the opportunity to chat with Mike  Bellafiore  and  Gman.  While I had alot of questions about the nature of the day trading   program, I found myself very curious to see how each of them would answer the following question: What do you think are the top three characteristics  of a successful day trader?  I was really interested to see if those same traits translated easily over to options trading (which they did by the way).  I thought their respective  answers were very helpful.

Roy felt that successful traders:  1)  are very solid with what he called the basics (tape reading, execution,  preparation for the trading day),  2) have discovered  the trades that fit their  personality and became excellent at those and    3)  realize that  successful trading is about pulling a small bucket of  profit water out of the market well  multiple times  (in other words they are not greedy).

Mikes top 3 were:   1) a passion for trading,  2) the willingness to admit you are wrong in your bias and to change your bias or terminate a losing trade and  3) to work really hard to become better each day.

Gman  (who had actually had a  list of 7 characteristics  which were really interesting, but Ill share his top 3):   1) hard work and preparation,  2) an ability to recognize what trades truly  work  for you and to STICK with them and  3) calmness in the midst of market volatility.

Unglamorous as it may sound,  it  looks like the  clear winner is hard work and  learning the basics. Should this be that big  of a surprise?  Wasnt it Thomas Edison who said genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration?  But it is interesting to note that two of the three put a very high premium on recognizing your trading strengths and focusing on those  types of  trades primarily.

Id love to know what the rest of you think.   Think of the best trader that you knowwhat do you think makes him or her successful?