Traditionally we classify reality in to 3 temporal categories :Past, Present Future.
And usually goals are set in the category of future. Visualizing the future goal creates positive desire emotions in the present , that sometimes are considered strong motivation. The higher the clarity of the goal, the stronger the desire. But an intelligent planner, sets to smaller steps towards the goal, rewards, that are positive emotions in the present again. Sometimes without these rewards, the goal is unattainable. An example of such a reward is temporary money gain, or for others (as Brain Tracy puts it) return on energy invested.
Other times the motivation is an emotion in the present created by a memory of the past. It can be either negative, as in the case of revenge, or positive as in the case of remembering how the homeland was, and wanting to go back.
It is important also to understand that the reality has scales of largeness, as well as past, present and future. Therefore a goal is attached to a scale, and the difference of the motivation and goal may be simply a difference of scale: The goal is usually at the larger scale (e.g. create a company that produces services valuable to society) while the motivation is usually at the small scale (get a wealthy personal household from its profits).
Personal motivations can be also a) at the emotional realm b) at the intellectual realm c) at the physical realm d) combinations of the previous.
Of course peace of mind , planetary prosperity and happiness comes also when we feel that we accomplish gradually our true goals. And there minor and major goals in life. We might say that our existence has no other goal than to exist. Or that we may have many different goals, according to the scale of relevance in our existence. But one of the most beautiful and meaning goals in life is to develop more of our soul consciousness. So all other minor goals like social success, money, fame, knowledge , creativity etc are to serve this major goal of developing more of our soul consciousness
Of course peace of mind , planetary prosperity and happiness comes also when we feel that we accomplish gradually our true goals. And there minor and major goals in life. We might say that our existence has no other goal than to exist. Or that we may have many different goals, according to the scale of relevance in our existence. But one of the most beautiful and meaning goals in life is to develop more of our soul consciousness. So all other minor goals like social success, money, fame, knowledge , creativity etc are to serve this major goal of developing more of our soul consciousness
