It is widely accepted that motivation is necessary for success. Indeed, some (motivational speakers) have become very successful simply by attempting to motivate others to succeed. In order to succeed, though, we need a clear understanding of what motivates us.

Ask any passing person in the mall what motivates them and you will probably get a variety of answers that vary from, “I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it,” to, “I’m just trying to make ends meet to pay the bills and enjoy myself.” Occasionally you will come across someone who says, “I’m working towards becoming financially successful,” and someone who says, “I don’t care about material wealth. I just love helping others.” What would your answer be if you were the one stopped in the mall?

If you don’t know what motivates you, stop and think about it for a bit. Read this next statement a few times: what motivates just about every person is a desire to advance, increase or improve their current situation in some way or another.

Does this strike a chord in your heart? As you read this statement, do you realise deep in your heart that YOU have a desire to advance, that YOU have a desire to increase, that YOU have a desire to improve your current situation? If you do, you have just become conscious of what really motivates you in life.

At first glance, this might seem to be a very selfish motive, but it’s not. This is what has contributed to the thousands and thousands of wonderful developments and inventions that have made life easier for human beings through the centuries since the dawn of time.

Because we have a deep desire to continually advance from where we are in life we, as a human race, have collectively come up with ways to do things better, smarter and more effectively. That is what has caused people never to be satisfied with things as they are. And that’s a wonderful quality!

This is what was responsible for the invention of the wheel. Some bright spark (oh, that we could know his or her name) was not satisfied with carrying heavy objects on their back and was determined to do things better, smarter and more effectively.

This is what explains why people (a South African being one of them) are right now trying to find a way to make space travel more accessible and affordable to the general public and not something reserved for highly trained and physically fit astronauts only. They’re not satisfied with things as they are.

So don’t be frustrated or angry when you experience a dissatisfaction with your present circumstances. That’s an important part of the force of life – to drive you to advance, increase and enlarge yourself (not physically!) in terms of your knowledge, capability and means in life.

You’re only frustrated and angry because something is making you afraid to step out and act on your desire. If you are prepared to take a risk and act on your desire to advance, you will set in motion a chain of events that will enable you to come up with ways to do things better, smarter and more effectively. And as you do that, you will find yourself not only moving towards success, but success coming towards you!