Ever wonder what makes people successful? If you answered no, I’d be really surprised! I have yet to meet a person that doesn’t wonder what it takes to be a big time success. You may look at others who are successful and wonder what is so different and how they got to that point while you are, well, wherever you are in your life. While it is easier and much more comfortable to believe that success just “happens” to some people, that couldn’t be any farther from the truth! There is 6 steps that seem to repeat over and over with each notably successful (financial and otherwise) person.

People who are successful didn’t just happen to wake up one day and find that success had been delivered to their doorstep. Quite the opposite, actually, because people who are successful, no matter at what, have worked to get where they are. Maybe it is an Olympic swimmer (think Michael Phelps) who has practiced his technique religiously in order to win gold medals, or maybe it is the “tiny” business down the road that you have been eyeing, where you see customers lining up around the block to patronize it (think the Soup Nazi). Each of these successful people has done something to reach that success, they have taken the 6 steps. The question is, are you?

Here are the 6 things that successful people do. Every. Single. Time:

1. Set goals. Successful people set goals that have a specific completion date, such as losing 10 pounds within 60 days, rather than saying that they will lose weight sometime this year. They have concrete goals and add a time frame for when they want to achieve them.

2. Get started. Successful people get started immediately; they don’t drag their feet or put it off. They start acting on a goal immediately, because they understand the power of momentum. They may not do the whole thing right away, but they do take a big step in getting started. Maybe they fill out the calendar and reserve critical days and time. Maybe they call others and get commitments (and delivery dates) from them. No matter what it is, they take action right away.

3. Think positive. This is the half-empty, half-full thing at work. Successful people are optimists and believe it is always half full. They aren’t the pie-in-the-sky type of people, but they do see the positive side of an opportunity, and they believe in their ability to achieve their goals.

4. Take action. Those who are successful take action, even (better said, especially) on partial information. The truth of the matter is that many people wait around until they think they have all the answers, but if you do that, you may wait forever. It is called ‘analysis paralysis,’ and a lot of people experience it. Successful people don’t proceed blindly, but they do know that, once they have the critical details, they have enough to make a decision and proceed accordingly.

5. Be determined. They say, in war, that the plans go out the window as soon as the first bullet flies. That is because there are so many variables that it is impossible to determine how things will proceed. The same holds true for most decisions in life. You don’t know what will happen once you take the first step, so the only constants are the end vision and your the determination to get there, even if the path isn’t exactly as you envisioned.

6. Attract it. Many people use the law of attraction to become successful. This is all about having a clear vision of what you want. Through your thoughts, you have the ability to attract success to you. I am not talking voodoo magic here. I am simply suggesting that what we think about most, we notice most. Just like when you buy that new blue car (and clearly you are thinking about it a lot once you own it) and you “all of a sudden” notice everyone has the same car as you. Buddha once said, “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become.”

Success doesn’t just happen to people. You have to do something to make it happen. Following these tips will put you on the path to success. Heck, you will probably be the next success story. You Soup Nazi, you.