Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the US once commented thus "nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. The slogan "press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”  Connected to Calvin view is the fact that the common denominator of human beings is the desire and will to be successful- get a good job, become successful business leaders, be a polished politician... Amidst all these life struggles to reach the top, the puzzle remains- how and why do some people realize their dreams and others fail?  Some attribute success to luck, others think its education, yet a cross-section believe its hard work, another school of thought believes its working smart that leads to success! As you read this article you could be holding your own views on what leads to success! Well the list of these rhetoric can go on and on...  It is from this puzzle of life that I would wish to share with my readers today some of the critical success factors gathered from different sources of available literature. Human pathologists believe that though there is no one sure way to success, there are a number of traits that all successful people possess. These are; the first factor that will determine your success is what you think most of the time. It’s believed that all successful people think about what they want to achieve most of the time. This is the biggest difference between successful people and ordinary ones. So it’s imperative to narrow your energies in life and focus on what your want to achieve. The second critical success factor is to know what you want. Successful people know exactly what they want in life and work towards it. If you want to be one of them, you must be clear of what you want to achieve in life. The third critical success factor that will determine your success is the passion and desire. Without the passion, you will never create the burning desire that will push you into taking massive and consistent actions. Successful people are willing to do whatever it takes because they have the burning desire and passion to keep them going. Taking action is another critical success factor that will determine your success. If you are not trying anything, it’s hard to achieve anything. You need to take action to produce the results you want in your life- do what you can, with what you have, where you are-success never comes automatically! Another, critical success factor is your knowledge base. You must commit to constant learning and never ending self- improvement. Spend an hour to read any related books in your field to acquire and expand your knowledge base. You stop growing, the moment you stop reading/ learning! The company of people you keep also determines what and who you become; the old saying that iron sharpens iron holds a lot of water in this regard. Keep away from the people who belittle your ambitions and tell you it’s impossible. Samuel Glover once lamented that…the world would stop if things were run by men who say, it can’t happen.”  Use challenges and life struggles as building blocks. Richard Nixon – the former US President once mused that "a man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.”  Nobody and nothing should keep you down unless you decide not to rise again. Margret Thatcher understood the essence of resilience and persistence in life when she said that you may have to fight a battle more than once to win it! Similarly, successful people believe there are no hopeless situations; it’s only people who grow hopeless about situations. The book of proverbs (29: 18) tells us that where there is no vision people perish; if you are to succeed you must bear a vision of your life. It’s increasingly becoming a reality that failures always confuse bad decision making and poor choices in life with destiny and blame fate for their failures. Finally, as we struggle and swim in tides and challenges of life always remember that "life becomes a heaviest burden when you have nothing to carry!” The writer is an Educationist, author and publisher.