Famously successful investor Warren Buffett has said that most investors will be best served over the long term by putting their dollars into a fund that tracks the S&P 500 index. With a 302% total return over the last 10 years and a nearly 2,000% total return over the last three decades, it's not surprising that the Oracle of Omaha is touting the wisdom of putting your money in a diversified fund that tracks the popular benchmark index. On the other hand, investors who are willing to take on more risk may be able to improve their overall performance and achieve better returns than the market at large. With that in mind, a panel of Motley Fool contributors have identified three ways that investors can put themselves in position to outperform the S&P 500 index. Read on to see why th