What do highly successful people have that others don’t?  What contributes to their success? It has nothing to do with money or even luck.

It’s all about motivation. What do successful people do to help keep them motivated?

Here are 10 steps successful people do to keep motivated:

1. They set goals

I mean specific goals. While your ultimate goal may be to become rich, what mini, more focused, goals is it going to take to get you there?

For example, instead of saying you want to have a booming business or to own a home, start by saying you plan to develop a sound business plan or put $5,000 in your savings.

Create short-term goals that are to the point. Something that is tangible that is within your reach.

“A goal properly set is halfway reached.” – Zig Ziglar

2. They create a plan of action

What are goals without a plan to help you reach them?

Successful people know what it takes to reach their goals, and they create a plan of action that will serve as the roadmap to get them there.

Let’s take one of our goal examples. If your goal is to create a business plan, your plan of action should include writing a summary of your business idea, researching your competition, looking at different marketing strategies, researching different finance options, etc.

3. They schedule things

Feeling like you don’t have enough time can be overwhelming, and it can really halt your motivation.

The trick to staying motivated and getting things done is scheduling. In fact, many successful people don’t use to-do lists, they live by their calendar instead.

Break down your day into hourly, 30-minute, or even 15-minute intervals and schedule everything. I mean everything. Pencil in time to exercise, relax, run errands. It may seem tedious, but scheduling will really help structure your day and get things done.

4. They have an accountability partner

Peer pressure can be a wonderful thing for motivation. Share your goals, or even your calendar, with a friend or accountability partner. If nothing else gets your butt moving, having someone continually check up on you or ask you how you’re doing with your action plan, will.

5. They reframe negative situations  

We all have setbacks. We sometimes even completely fail. But successful people don’t let setbacks stop them. Instead, they reframe the situation and look at it differently.

Rather than spending time reflecting on what they did wrong and how they failed, they spend time thinking about what they could have done differently and how to improve the next time around.

6. They bounce back

Since we’re talking about setbacks, successful people reframe a bad situation, and then they move on. They assume that they alone have the power to change things, and they take the steps to make those changes.

7. They have fun

If you’re not having any fun, chances are you aren’t going to be motivated to do great things. If you take everything seriously, you’re going to start resenting your goal and may even discard it completely.

Sure, there are going to be elements of your action plan, or even daily tasks, that are just no fun. Nothing can change that. But let’s make them a bit more enjoyable to keep your motivation up!

Challenge yourself to get things done faster and more efficiently. Or take a second out of your day to watch a funny video online. Adding some fun, and humor, into your day can help keep your motivation going.

8. They write down everything

Not all ideas are going to be great ideas, and that’s fine. Motivated people write things down. Why? Because ideas don’t stay in our minds for very long and you never know when an idea will actually be great.

Writing things down also helps you keep your focus, reminding you what you’re working on, and working towards.

9. They meditate

What do successful people like Oprah, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch, and Ford Motor Company Chairman Bill Ford have in common?

They all take time each day to meditate. Meditation has been known to help lower your stress, improve performance and make you more productive.

It doesn’t take hours of transcendental meditation. Sitting for 20 minutes in peace and quiet, focusing on nothing but your breath, will do wonders for your productivity and motivation.

10. They visualize their future

Remember those goals we talked about? Both, focused and long-term? Successful people think about what they want to achieve. They look at the bigger picture. Before he hit it big, Jim Carrey often pictured directors interested in him. Keep your goals in mind. Visualize them. Stay motivated to them.

“I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was. I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.” – Muhammad Ali

Motivation is a funny thing. It comes and it goes. But the difference between people that succeed and those that don’t is that successful people remain motivated. They use these tricks to keep them working toward their goals, so that they can achieve their dreams.

What would you add to this list that keeps you motivated? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below!