Success is not just about what you do, but who you are and how you think. To be successful your attitude must match and drive your actions.  A recent Harvard Business Review survey of 7,000 people had them list in order the nine most important personal strategies for success.

In order of effect magnitude, the most impactful strategies were:

1. Have Grit — Persistence over the long haul is key
2. Know Exactly How Far You Have Left to Go — Monitor your progress
3. Get Specific — Have a crystal-clear idea of exactly what success will look like
4. Seize the Moment to Act on Your Goals — Know in advance what you will do, and when and where you will do it
5. Focus on What You Will Do, Not What You Won’t Do — Instead of focusing on bad habits, it’s more effective to replace them with better ones.
6. Build your Willpower Muscle — If you don’t have enough willpower, you can get more using it.
7. Focus on Getting Better, Rather than Being Good — Think about your goals as opportunities to improve, rather than to prove yourself
8. Be a Realistic Optimist — Visualize how you will make success happen by overcoming obstacles
9. Don’t Tempt Fate — No one has willpower all the time, so don’t push your luck

And we at Strategy and Action would like to add one more of our own… Celebrate your successes – when you achieve a goal or reach a milestone, take the time to appreciate your win, share your success for your peers and then go back and work harder than before.

Adapted from HBR: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/03/the_most_effective_strategies.html