[NorCalAthlete]

Originally Posted by Walter Villa

La vita e come una corsa in motocicletta; nessuno sa quanta benzina il destino ha messo nel nostro serbatoio. C'e chi nasce con il pieno e chi, senza saperlo, viene al mondo gia in riserva ma...che tu abbia il pieno o poche gocce di benzina non importa, quello che conta e andare sempre al massimo fino all'ultima goccia di vita.

Translation :
Life is like a motor race; nobody knows how much petrol Destiny has poured into our tank. There are people who have theirs full and people who, without knowing it, come to life already low on petrol but...no matter if yours is full or you have only a few drops, what counts is going at top speed till your last drop of life.

What gets YOU going?

Edit : a bit of backstory on what motivates me.

I come from a family of overachievers who set an extremely high bar for me at an early age. Both parents were immigrants who came to the US from nothing - think of the poorest 3rd world living conditions you can and that's damn near what my mom experienced growing up before moving to the US, and as for my dad his mother and grandmother pooled money to send him to the US with nothing but the clothes on his back. He was born in Germany just before WW2, so you can do the math on living conditions and such there at the time.

My mom grew to speak 5 languages fluently, knocked out a bachelor's and Master's degree from UC Berkeley, and worked for NASA, law firms, etc before retiring to work for her church. My dad started off literally picking cotton for nothing more than room + board + learning English as a teenager, but went on to speak 4 languages fluently, another 5-6 conversationally, and earned a bachelor's, 2 master's, and a Ph.D. Literal rocket scientist. Of my siblings, one is trilingual and has so far completed a bachelor's + master's, and is a director at a tech company. The other is conversational in 2 other languages though not fluent, dropped out of college, and started his own business somewhat successfully so far in SF. I know he's on 2addicts but dunno if he reads this forum.

As for me? I joined the military, speak English and sarcasm (have lost my conversational language skills due to lack of use, but was working towards fluency in 3 other languages), have now knocked out a bachelor's degree, and am climbing rapidly through various tech companies (I've worked for 2/5 of the FAANG companies + NASA so far). In the time honored tradition of wanting my future kids to have a better life than I did, I want to be even more successful and accomplished than my parents were. I never want to have to tell my kids (within reason) "we can't afford that". I want them to be able to travel and enjoy vacations. I want to be able to help as many others achieve their dreams or goals - or even just marginally improve their lives - as possible. That generally becomes easier to do, and you can help more people, the more money you have / make, so chasing the money is also a key motivator for me. I work with several nonprofits and charities in addition to my main job and am slowly learning how to start my own business on the side.

As much as I've accomplished though, it still pales in comparison to my family...so, onward and upward. That's what motivates me.

[VisualEcho]

Having something to dream about. I'd probably just sit on the couch all day watching TV if I actually had all the money to buy everything I dream about. But because I don't, I hustle.

[corn18]

Different phases of life = different motivations.

I knew at age seven I wanted to be a pilot. Didn't know exactly how I would do that, but that's what I wanted to be. No money to go to flight school, no money to go to college, so I got good enough grades to go to the Naval Academy. Then I got good enough grades to go to flight school. Then I got good enough grades to select fighters. Then I got good enough grades to fly F/A-18's on the east coast. Once I got into the fleet, it was all about being the best fighter pilot in the Navy. Then the best test pilot.

Then I retired after 20 years at age 42 and I was lost. No vision. Had a great job making lots of money, which was nice, but no vision. Then I decided to retire at 55 and that is my current vision. To be honest, not much of a vision, but that's what I'm working towards now. Will be 55 next year and I'm on track.

My vision now is to be the best father, husband and pop that I can be. Funny how it took 54 years to get to this and that should have been my vision all along, but it wasn't. My secondary vision is to help save as many dogs as possible. Not sure what that looks like yet, but I will hopefully have many years to figure it out.

[lsturbointeg]

WhackoffWednesday

[e90335e36m3]

Sex, $, success.

[King Rudi]

Depends on the task at hand. Typically what motivates me is mastery of whatever project is in front of me, whether it be work related or personal. Simply completing a project isn't enough. I've always been the under promise and over deliver type of person. Quiet and meek with my head down. Upon completion of said project, I sit back and appreciate the work I've done, look for opportunities to do it better the next time and humbly appreciate the accolades or corrective criticism that comes after.

Generally speaking for most individuals, motivators tend to be money, sex and survival. All other motivators can be directly attributed to these....or so I feel.

[vreihen16]

Steak and hummers. Enough said.....

[NorthCountryGuy]

My Son & my Daughter.

[Nuckle]

Jesus

[yco]

goals, challenges and sometimes comfort..

[BimmerDimmer6]

Originally Posted by Nuckle

Jesus

...

[pikkagtr]

[Rmtt]

I find motivation in everything I do. My family, work, gym, etc.

Anything I do I go "all in" which sometimes bites me as I get so emotional invested.

I'm my own worst critic with OCD tendencies.

When I have nothing to do at any current moment, I get kind of this nervous energy and tend to quickly find something. It's like I have to have every moment of my day planned.

My wife will tell me sit back and just relax....but it's hard. I'm the guy that takes an itinerary on vacation.

Oh....and similiar to corn18 I think between my wife, daughter, and myself.....we try to take in any stray or homeless animal there is.

Now all we need is just a bigger place. My wife grew up on a farm.....and I could see having something similar as it would give me plenty to do.

We plan to build our retirement home within a year even though I have a while before I would actually retire.

[spazzyfry123]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Steak and hummers. Enough said.....

March 14th must be a hell of a day in your household.

[Littlebear]

"Sex & drugs & rock&roll...."

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

March 14th must be a hell of a day in your household.

Yup. The guy's holiday exactly one month after Valentine's Day, with everything needed to celebrate clearly listed in the name.....

[2000cs]

I have a strong sense of responsibility for the ones I love which keeps me working.

I have a deep feeling that I can do whatever needs doing and endure anything to get it done. I think this comes from a Time-Life coffee table book on WWII that my parents had and I used to look through as a kid in the 1960s. It had black-and-white photos (as I recall) of the prisoners in Nazi camps just before their liberation. Some nude with hands over their privates, completely emaciated. Others in the striped prison garb. Mass graves and stacks of bodies. It made a powerful impression on me (not Jewish, by the way) that if they could endure and live, not knowing whether they would ever get out and certainly knowing the fate of many fellow captives, then I could get through the relative trivialities in my own life and career.

After that I just missed being drafted for Vietnam and never served. But I admire those who did serve and again often think if they could endure their tours, often in some pretty inhospitable places, then I can do what I need to as well.

In a way, staying focused and motivated for me honors both.

[Littlebear]

OK, if you all are going to be serious:

-"First, do no harm".
-Try to be a positive force, in all interactions, with all things.


Murf

[383vett]

Petal to the metal every Wednesday night (prior to covid)

[Kitzhabersucks]

Helping those that work for me develop.
Safety, Integrity, Commitment to the Team.
As they succeed, then I feel I have as well.

[ny325]

Jesus, and my family.

[KenB925]

fear lately, fear of failure, fear of not having ‘enough’

other times desire to have fun, other times the appreciation/approval of others, still others...just not knowing what else to do but move forward

i have many examples of all of these, but this would end up being a very long post