The Most Powerful Success Strategies Known To Science (According to Stephen J. Kraus, Ph.D.)

Step 1. 

Have a Vision - Figure out what you really want from life.  Stephen Kraus suggests that successful people:

• Are a little crazy
• Are overly optimistic
• Are flexible thinkers
• Look for mentors and role models
• Take risks
• Ask questions

He than offers "The Vision Quest-ion Process" as a tool.  It goes through six basic principles of thinking like a genius.

Step 2. 

Turn lofty ambitions into consistent actions.  Successful people make plans for success by setting goals.

Six Proven Principles for Effective Goals

1. Set challenging goals that are important to you and that are attainable.
2. Be specific.  Challenging and specific goals are more achievable than "doing your best", setting easy goals, or no goals.  Don't allow yourself "wiggle room".
3. Approach - move towards your goals, rather than pushing away from negative ones (avoidance goals).
4. Goals need to be measurable.  Measurable goals help you to keep on track, maybe prompt a new action plan, or lowering your goals instead of giving up completely.
5. Set proximal goals that have a short time frame, rather than yearly goals.  Short time frames motivate productivity.
6. Your goals should be inspirational.  Your goals should be congruent with your long-term vision.  This will make your goals interesting, exciting, and will give you confidence to continue.

Step 3. 

Belief - Minimise fear, uncertainty and doubt.  A powerful predictor of success is belief in your abilities and that you can control your outcomes.  You need to control your emotions, beliefs and thoughts.

Step 4. 

Persistence - Drive and determination.  Successful people work hard, they do not give up.  Persistence is needed to lose weight, to achieve at University, and to aquire new skills.  Persisting is also the key to happiness.

Step 5. 

Learning - Making "Course Corrections" in life.  You need to learn if you are persisting in the right direction and whether or not you need a "Course Correction".

Step 6. 

Putting it all together.

The formula for success is:

Success = Vision x Strategy x Belief x Persistence x Learning. 

In mathematics when numbers are multiplied, if any one of the numbers are zero, than the whole equation is zero.  So lacking in any one of these strategies will lead to failure.

To gain a deeper understanding of this topic I would recommend reading the book "Psychological Foundations of Success" by Stephen J. Kraus, Ph.D.  In this book Stephen separates the Science of Success from Self-Help Snake Oil.