Finding our personal motivation is very important. Our motivations are really our values and these values are essentially the most important things in our lives. These values are very important because they are the underlying motivating factors of our lives. You can say that they are sort of like our guiding principles that point us in the direction that we want to go and also set the standard of how we’re going to get there.

Finding out what your motivations are, will greatly increase your personal focus in life. This personal focus will allow you to develop greater personal happiness because our happiness is really based on our ability to successfully implement our values in our lives. Knowing your personal motivating factors is also very important because it makes choices far easier. By knowing what motivates you and therefore what is really important to you, you are able to make choices far easier because you are more aware of where you want to go.

A good way to find out what motivates you is by asking yourself the following questions:

If I could have anything I wanted in life right now, what would I have?

If I was living my ideal life right now, what would I be doing?

What does success mean to me? What does success mean to me personally (not to friends, family or society at large but to me personally)?

What one thing would make me completely happy?

If I was able to do it all again, knowing what I know now, what would I do differently?

By answering these questions honestly you will discover what really is important to you. Always remember to answer the above questions honestly, discovering for yourself what you truly want and not what the rest of the world wants from you. It is very important that you find the personal distinction between your personal motivation and the motive forces of the world around you. What I mean by this is that you must identify your personal values and separate those from the desires of those around you. There is a difference between what you want and what the world wants from you, the sooner that you can discover your own personal motivations, the sooner that you can start living your own life. Use these questions to find your inner values and in this way the true source of your ‘personal’ happiness.