This is Ken Matthews’s submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

Motivation is that inner feeling that drives one to achieve a result. It is an internal energy that moves one to actively pursue a goal, a desire, an end. Many words can be used to define motivation. Here are a few: passion, drive, fire, enthusiasm, heart, tick, itch, motor, engine and so forth. These words all can be used to describe an intense emotion we call motivation.

Millions of dollars are spent each year to hire motivational speakers. They are in demand, and rarely is there a day that goes by when someone is not speaking to a business, an organization, a civic group, or some other massive audience of people on the subject of motivation. Many feel this is the key to success in whatever you are in pursuit. Motivation is important, but before one can become motivated one must have a target, a goal, a result, or a desired end. It is the substance of this result that will determine, in many cases, the level of motivation.

What is it that motivates you today? What compels you to get out of bed in the morning? What motivates you to go to work or go to school or even to interact with those you love? What motivated you to come to church if, indeed, you are a church member? What motivates you to remain apart of the things that matter most in your little world? We are all motivated by something and maybe it is time to start thinking about it because our level of motivation will greatly determine our level of success.

Sometimes we face challenges in life that are very difficult. There are circumstances and situations in life that rob us of our energy and may put us in neutral or reverse if we do not have what it takes to overcome these times. The key to overcoming these trying times is wrapped up in this concept of motivation. If we are living with motivation, living with passion, we will be able to push and press our way through even in difficult times.

Successful people are a motivated people. They are people who live with a passion to reach a desired end. Motivated people are not hindered by the challenges and roadblocks of their life, because there passion in life sustains and empowers them during such trying times. If we desire to be successful in life we must set a course to accomplish goals and ambitions that we are passionate about and live with a drive to fulfill that hearts desire.

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It’s nice to know I could help someone so much:

Hi Chris We’ve never met, but I’ve just been inspired to drop you a line. I’ve been sorting out my bookshelf this weekend and I came across a copy of “Poor Richard’s Email Publishing”, annotated with so many post-its that it’s almost twice the thickness. It brought back memories!

In 1999 I was a trade/B2B magazine editor here in the UK, becoming increasingly irritated with the fact that when it came to the internet, my colleagues just didn’t “get it”. On holiday in North America with my wife, I came across your book in a bookstore and thought it seemed vaguely interesting. It proved to be more than that. Over the next two or three days, I formulated a whole business plan in my head, based on the ideas the book gave me (fortunately, we had a couple of long coach journeys). It was totally inspirational.

Fast-forward to 2006 and the company I started from my bedroom, based on the ideas of email replacing print in the trade press, was sold for enough money to ensure I’ll be comfortable for the rest of my life. Sure, I did all the hard work and all that. But it was the chance find of your book which sparked everything off, and for that, I’d like to offer you my most sincere thanks. On behalf of my wife and young son, not to mention everyone else in the company who did well out of the sale: THANK YOU!

I’m thrilled and depressed at the same time.

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