Success Factors from Psychology Studies on How to be Successful

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Learn how to be successful with these tips on success factors identified by psychology studies of the brains of successful people.

Many self-help books describe the behaviors of successful people and suggest that anyone can become a success by duplicating the behaviors of those who are successful in business, professional, or government careers. They imply that success is available to all, discounting the possibility that some people are simply wired for success — possessing a genetic disposition to be successful — whereas others might lack the inherent abilities to succeed.

With the advent of modern psychology research techniques, including the ability to watch the human brain function in a variety of situations and tasks through fMRI's (functional magnetic resonance imaging), researchers Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske have approached identifying success factors by examining the brains of successful people. They found that successful people — those whom they term "winners" — have differences in their brain structures. However, they also advise that the brain is flexible and can be re-shaped to mirror successful brains by adapting ways of thinking, feeling, and doing.

Brown is a board-certified clinical psychologist on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and a Clinical Associate at McLean Hospital. Fenske is a neuroscientist and former faculty member of Harvard Medical School, now an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Guelph, Ontario.

Together with Liz Neporent, Brown and Fenske have published their findings in The Winner's Brain: 8 Strategies Great Minds Use to Achieve Success (Da Capo Press, 2010).

How the Mind Works for Success

The Winner's Brain (Da Capo Press, 2010) describes these eight win-factors distinct to successful people:

• Self-awareness
• Motivation
• Focus
• Emotional Balance
• Memory
• Resilience
• Adaptability
• Brain Care

In discussing each factor of success, the authors relate fMRI studies indicating the areas of the brain functional during utilization of each factor and they suggest activities and interventions one can use to re-shape or strengthen the applicable areas of the brain.

Successful Personal Growth and Development

Brown and Fenske shatter common myths that success in life depends on inherent intelligence, fortunate circumstances, financial backing, or luck, indicating instead that the critical success factor is having a failure-resistant brain. Some people are born with an advantage in this area, having an inherent disposition to be failure-averse, but the authors offer assurance that everyone possesses the foundational brain material to create a failure-resistant brain.

Contrary to earlier beliefs that one's brain is essentially fixed in development at an early age, modern research studies find that the brain is shaped and re-shaped by every thought, emotion, and behavior one undertakes, even at advanced ages. In fact, it is now believed that the brain continues to evolve until death, dispelling the old-saw that "you can't teach an old dog new tricks."

The Winner's Brain contains suggestions for re-shaping the brain to improve one's abilities in each of the eight success factors.

Self-Awareness as a Factor of Success

The authors find that highly successful people have a well-developed sense of self-awareness, and they link self-awareness to success in relationships, work, and other aspects of life. A differentiator for winners is that they not only have a sense for how they relate to others, but also for how others relate to them.

Learning Success with Motivation and Focus

Motivation and focus have been identified as two key factors when it comes to achieving success. With the highly developed brain-power of motivation, a winner's brain is able to sustain motivation even when potential rewards are uncertain and distant.

With the plethora of instant information sources at one's disposal today, maintaining a focus on one's goals can be extremely difficult. The brains of successful people are able to maintain laser-like focus on the goal even when deluged with potential interruptions.

Emotional Balance, Memory, and Mental Acuity

Successful people manage their emotions for optimal results with emotional balance, not denying their emotions, but balancing emotions for best effect.

The brains of successful people utilize memory of past experiences to anticipate the future and predict the best responses to new situations. Memory and mental acuity can be improved by exercising the brain with mental exercises, new experiences, good diet, and adequate sleep.

The Success Factors of Resilience and Adaptability

Resilience is another key factor to success. Many people regard successful others as blessed with the ability to succeed at whatever is undertaken. Nothing could be further from the truth. Successful people often fail, but learn from each failure and bounce back with resilience.

In terms of adaptability, successful people inherently recognize that their brains are adaptable, able to adjust to new circumstances and events by adopting new thoughts and behaviors. Everyone can learn to re-shape their brains to foster this adaptability.

Brain Care for Success and How to be Successful

As with every other organ and function of the body, one's brain works best with good care. Successful people understand the processes for brain care: good diet, stimulation, exercise, and sleep.

Psychology research studies validate that success in life — defined as the ability to overcome obstacles to reach one's goals — correlates to a healthy brain structured to enable one's self awareness, motivation, focus, emotional balance, and several other characteristics. Furthermore, studies show that the brain is flexible and can be re-shaped to enhance these characteristics by one's thoughts, words, and behaviors. A personal growth and development plan utilizing these ideas can lead to personal success.

Self-limiting beliefs which formed early in life and reside quietly in the subconscious mind can be major causes of failure to succeed. Overcoming Self-Limiting Beliefs has much more on this topic.