Since our emotions lead to actions, we all experience motivation. The question is, are we aware of what motivates us and do we manage ourselves so that our motivators move us in the direction of our goals?
The first part of this is that we have to have goals toward which we can move. Sadly, many people live life by letting events happen to them, letting circumstances determine what they do next. Often these people find life lacking in satisfaction, they never achieve anything, experience less the joy of success simply because they are not aiming to achieve or succeed at anything—so, of course, in this they succeed.

Success can be measured in many different ways. Wisdom show us, that much of what we chase in our Western society is ultimately lacking in significance. If you speak to people close to death, they want to experience the feel of a walk on the beach, to watch a sunset, to have family and friends around, not to have more money or a new large-screen TV.

The fact of the matter is that no-one can motivate us. We motivate ourselves. Even the most gifted motivational speaker in the world will not move us unless our heart is touched and we choose to move in the direction being spoken about. The speaker doesn’t motivate us, we are brought to a point where our own emotions motivate us to act. This is significant. It means that we are ultimately responsible for our own action and motivation. People who excel in self-motivation are able to bounce back from life’s setbacks.

Since we are different, different things will motivate or demotivate each of us. The skill here is to place ourseves in situations which are rich in those things which motivate us and to remove those things which demotivate. If we can’t remove the demotivators, we can always choose to remove ourselves from the situation, achieving the same result.