The culminating project in completing a doctorate in education is the preparation and final defense of the dissertation. Specifically in educational administration and leadership, the student will have exerted hours of energy participating in course work, internships as well as in written and oral comprehensive examinations. By the time a student begins to prepare a dissertation proposal, hundreds of hours have been invested in academic endeavors. The student is well-versed in a variety of theoretical constructs that include leadership, organization, management, experimental design, statistics, law, finance, evaluation, and many other areas. The task remains to utilize the accumulated knowledge to successfully develop and complete the proposal and dissertation. Academic knowledge is not sufficient to prepare the dissertation. A number of other factors must be included and considered in the development and successful completion of the dissertation. The formula for success includes both internal and external factors. The internal factors include goal setting, listening, writing strategy, benchmarking, confidence, flexibility, a positive disposition, discipline, adaptability, resiliency, humor, collaboration, and interpersonal skills. The external factors include time, family support, supervisor/institutional consideration, and advisor motivation.