<p>I know the most common answer will be money and image, but why? What motivates you to get ahead? Do you want to be held in high esteem? Does revenge drive you to your goals? </p>
<p>As for myself, I feel that I can't afford to fail or at least do worse than most of my peers. I don't think I've gone through obstacles in my life to have an underwhelming outcome, especially when I have people to prove wrong. </p>
<p>Money helps the cause too :)</p>
<p>My vision, that comes from deep inside, the vision that no one else can see.
It fuels me. I have that fire inside.</p>
<p>I worked at a bakery over the summer, and in college i work as a part-time nanny. There’s nothing like working crappy jobs to motivate you to work harder! :p</p>
<p>Ambition and realizing life’s short. I’m My family friend is dying of an illness and she’s only 28. I’m 19 as of today and i feel so old, and like i’ve done nothing for almost 2 decades now. I want to go mountain climbing and to Grad school, and learn to scuba dive. I love sailing and my brother and I always talked about sailing across the Atlantic when we were kids so we’re doing that next May (to Ireland). You can have to cram everything in while you can!</p>
<p>different people have different definitions of success…for some it’s getting married and raising 5 kids and for others it’s working with whales or going to Law school or something…so I think most people are driven by ambition.</p>
<p>My ambition to not “be a nobody” aka an un-contributing member of society is probably what drives me most. One of my worst nightmares is to end up as a housewife/a sedentary person who works at a mini-mart (or some other pointless job where I’m not using my brain) and whose happiness comes from talking about gardening (or something else trivial). I want to live an amazing life rich with meaningful relationships and where I know intrinsically that I’ve done everything I can to affect society in the most positive way. Maybe I am naive to think I can do something that can “change the world” for the better. But that’s how I feel and it’s worked so far…</p>
<p>Houses like this one (this one happens to be in my hometown):</p>
<p>[Remax-</a> Listing ID # Colts Neck, NJ](<a href=“http://www.remax-nj.com/remaxnj/modules/internet/search/includes/mapsearch/listingpopup.asp?mlsid=211&mlsnumber=20919063&l=y]Remax-”>http://www.remax-nj.com/remaxnj/modules/internet/search/includes/mapsearch/listingpopup.asp?mlsid=211&mlsnumber=20919063&l=y)</p>
<p>A good house, a good academia tenured position, a Hummer or other equivalent car, a smaller car for urban use, ability to travel frequently to Europe, Australia and South America and to, when I get kids, be able to give them the finest possible education I couldn’t get, so they can have an easier way in their lives.</p>
<p>Houses, cars, and lots of money are fine, but if one’s ambition comes from those things alone, I would say that you have poverty of ambition.</p>
<p>Being able to buy NFL Season tickets. Going to the store and be able to buy almost anything I need/want(with in reason). Walking to class sucks. being able to drive a nice car everywhere I go. Not having to work a horrible job that doesn’t get me what I want when I get paid. </p>
<p>Just pulling up at a family reunion and saying yah son I made it lol</p>
<p>Getting a eclass after I graduate with my MBA, bathing in Ferragamo, Being fly as hell at 26 years old and then being CEO of my own company, getting a white S550 by the time I’m 35, being on the forbes 400 list… Chyeah</p>
<p>You should always have a dream but you should also be content with current situation. This doesn’t mean settling for less. It means enjoying your life no matter what your situation because there is never a guarantee that your dreams will ever come true. The destination will bring ultimate happiness but you have to enjoy the journey too.</p>
<p>I have practical goals. I already have a good family and a job that I like. Now I just need money. Being content is never easy. Money may not buy happiness but not having it can create a lot of misery, especially in a marriage.</p>
<p>I am never, ever, ever going back to where I came from.</p>
<p>Just doing better than my parents. I am sick of living house to house always wondering if we’re going to be evicted again. Moving ~10 times before the age of 15 is a pretty good kick in the butt to do well. </p>
<p>I don’t want to be rich, I just want to be stable. In fact, I don’t ever want to be rich, I’ll probably give all my extra money to charity. Once you’re comfortable, there is no need to horde your money or buy bigger, better, and shinier things. You shouldn’t need excess things to make you happy.</p>
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<p>I agree. I definitely want enough money to be able to pay my bills, live in a little apartment (although I prefer a roommate if she’s decent), and go out and have fun occasionally without having to adhere to a ridiculously strict budget. I want to be able to donate to charity. Since I don’t plan on having kids and I only want a self-supporting significant other (independence is key), that puts me at or around $50,000 a year. Nothing massive, nothing too small, just right. Having lived in a sub-poverty line family my entire life, I guess I’m easy to please.</p>
<p>For me, the real joys in life will be having a job that I love. Of course, considering the first requirement, it’s okay if I like it instead of love it. And I never, ever want to work customer service again - but at least I know what it feels like. Sometimes I think customer service work should be mandatory for everyone. You learn an awful lot. I might be a professor, or work for the government, or who knows what - I certainly haven’t decided. I want to have friends with which I can have rich discussions. I want to be sophisticated, but still enjoy the simple things in life like gardening (GASP CRASH BOOM). I never want to get so rich that I hoard money like my uncle, who wouldn’t help a dying man at his feet. I never want to have so much money I lose track of what it’s like not to have any money - and trust me, that threshold is lower than it seems. I never want to get so selfish that I’d rather keep an extra 5% of my income than offer health care to the millions of un- and under-insured.</p>
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<p>Hell yeah!</p>
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<p>Uh huh… </p>
<p>Money does not always make one happy, but unhappiness with money is far better than unhappiness without it. Even if one is miserable with money, at least they have a much greater chance of achieving happiness.</p>
<p>Being better than everyone. I’m a demanding controlling person so I’m unhappy unless I’m superior to people.</p>
<p>I also want to start making 2k a day instead of 1k</p>
<p>^ lol hopefully you’ll evolve out of that stage</p>
<p>I wish I knew what drives me to keep going. College sucks, I can’t wait to leave. I have no career prospects… I’m not a fan gluttonous consumerism… I just want a simple life where I can smoke my herb and play my guitar and live in a place where I can defend myself against the encroaching fascism that is infecting this nation. Something tells me having a diploma will be useful someday though.</p>
<p>Seeing a “hiring now” sign at McDonalds is a good enough motivator to pull me through the hard times.</p>
<p>Plus, I want a pony and a job that allows me to ride my pony to work every day :). Ponies are rather expensive.</p>
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<p>I wish I could say that, but I have a feeling that I’m going to be the George Bailey of my town and that’s being optimistic.</p>
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so so true</p>