Over a delicious dinner in a Japanese fusion cafe where housemade pastas and Japanese-style "Hanbaagu" (Hamburger patties) are the highlight of the meal, our Art Editor and I discussed the topic of Motivation. My belief is that there is motivation within each and every one of us, but whether or not we decide to discover it and embrace it to chase after our goals is the question.

For some, the line of questioning begins with "How do I find out what motivates me?"

For me, I am attempting to run a business, a non-profit and also an online magazine - keeping up with all these demands on my time and energy requires a significant amount of motivation, and I find it asking WHY I am doing these things when times get tough. 

• I want to run a marketing agency because I think the world deserves better marketing - strategies that are well thought out AND executed. 
• I dedicate time to Lean In Canada's Vancouver Chapter because I want to inspire the next generation of women, specifically my nieces, to be the most they can be. 
• I run an online magazine because I want to share the stories of all the amazing and brilliant people I am lucky enough to meet - and I believe others should had the opportunity to connect with them as well. 

So if you have a goal in mind, ask yourself, why is it important? If the answer is just "to make more money" then it's not something you will stay motivated for in the long term. Goals in general take a long time to achieve if they are worth pursuing, so you need to find a reason with enough depth to inspire you to get through times when:

• Your business is in the red, OR
• Your key staff leave your company, OR
• Your key customer accounts go to another company. 

Those are just some of the possible scenarios you will have to deal with. In my opinion, dreams and goals are much like the Marilyn Monroe quote:

"If you can't handle [them] at [their] worst, you don't deserve them at [their] best."

Are you ready for the worst as well as the best?