Fresh from finishing an intensive two day workshop with Copywriting Guru Jo Han Mok, I went for a 3 day vacation to paradise with the family. (thanks to my buddy Rachit Dayal who helped with my blog housekeeping while I was away)

Indra Mani Villa, Bintan, Indonesia

We headed out to Indonesia in choppy water, akin to 5G roller coaster ride. (I’d later discovered that Singapore had been subjected to 24 hours of rain and flooding).

The ocean ride was tough. I couldn’t keep my lunch down. Neither it seemed could about 80% of the other passengers.

But we were rewarded with a picturesque view of the sea, with the waves lapping below our villa, barely 20 meters away.

When it was raining heavily, it was a pure delight to soak in our personal pool and gaze out to the sea.

I drifted off to sleep every evening, lulled by the ocean waves splashing on the sandy shore.

It was much needed therapy after the past four months of relentless internet marketing. And it was a good opportunity too, to make plans for the next couple of months.

I’m back, energized, all set to reply to the 300 emails which’ve just come into my inbox. And I’m raring to go.

While money always seems to be the prime motivator for a lot of people, my experience has shown that you really do need to find a stronger motivator to keep you going.

Guy Kawasaki has mentioned several times that starting a tech startup and having the aim to “change the world” is a much nobler purpose than merely to make money. (I’d suggest going over to Guy’s blog and searching for “change the world” as he has numerous excellent posts on the topic).

While we all don’t necessarily need to effect a social revolution or remake reality, instead it’d be a good time to find inside ourselves that driving force, which will keep us going at 3am in the morning, while beset by migraine attacks. Perhaps for a primal driving force which will bring us one step closer to that goal, not merely just the gold.

If we can unclock that motivation, which moves us up to that next step, wouldn’t that be worth spending a couple of days searching for?

Here’s my motivation:

My daughter Bianca and wife Kar Ling

What’s your motivation?