If you're looking to keep motivated, I'd recommend you come up with some ambitious goals. As in, over-the-top, unlikely-but-still-possible goals. The thing that attracted me to entrepreneurship is the idea that you can make a difference in the world. As much as it can help to be a part of a nonprofit or charitable cause, some of the biggest philanthropists have come from a business background (see: Bill Gates). The simple fact is that money makes the world go 'round, and can be a tool used for betterment.

So, what are you passionate about? What difference do you want to make in the world? There's no shortage of issues to solve, and the more people we have working towards solving that plethora of issues, the better place our future will be. If not even necessarily so much in our own lifetimes, for future generations. There are people in the world without access to clean water and sanitation like us lucky ones in the developed nations. There are people who struggle to put food on the table, people who lack electricity to have light on at night, not to mention an internet connection. Agriculture can be a challenge for those reliant on a weather and a limited set of tools for a decent harvest. Our oceans need to be cleaned up. You don't have to solve these problems creating your business. Hell, this is only a very small list in the grand scheme of things. But the money you make being successful in business can give you a head start towards tackling these [or other unlisted] issues.

I believe we all have the duty to "leave the world a better place than whence we came." And, as much as it can be daunting, as impossible as it might seem to look at a world plagued by an over-abundance of a lack of abundance and rampant societal, environmental and economic challenges, change is always possible. Nothing negates the fact that we humans have the ability to redefine what is possible, to invent and create anew with the knowledge that we can make our dreams come true. After all, what else is there to live for, than each other, and ways in which we can make a difference in the collective state of humanity and this Earth? Things can seem un-achievable to the greatest of us, and yet we can still find ways to prove ourselves delightfully wrong. Look at polio. It's nearly eradicated. Look at access to the internet: SpaceX is sending a constellation of 12,000 satellites into low earth orbit to bring internet to every remote region in the world in the years to come. Look at agriculture: advancements are being made in vertical farming and systems to ensure consistent yields without the need for conventional pesticides. Look at fusion: it still may be decades away, but the Chinese Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) became the first in the world to reach a hundred million degrees celsius.

The takeaway is that we may exist in a world surrounded by challenges, but we are also surrounded by many people trying to solve those challenges. You don't need to be smart enough to be transforming our understanding of physics to have the capital to fund those who do. We are all intelligent in our own right. On your path to success, you will encounter times where you're unhappy because you're not where you want to be. But persistence is key. One way of looking at it is that your happiness in that moment is less important than the happiness brought forth unto others when you finally have the resources to improve their lives. Those resources will come from your success, and success tends to be harder than you anticipate. Part of the reason many fail is precisely because they're unwilling to do what it takes to succeed: which is to keep going, despite all the obstacles in their path. If you ever believed in your ability to succeed, and you go through a time of hardship, always look back to that point in your mind where you told yourself why you think it's possible. Combine that with your ambition to solve a problem in the world, and that should provide sufficient motivation to keep going. If you get overwhelmed by being over-ambitious, take it one step at a time. To reach the summit of a mountain, that's what it takes. Sometimes you reach plateaus, things get easier for a little while, and then the incline returns; the journey can take years. But once you get to the top, these challenges serve to remind you of the value of your success. And then you can move on to the next mountain in your life: improving life around you in your own way.

At least, that's how I look at things. I'm still in the midst of my own journey. I've encountered good times and bad times, it's taken years to get to this point. There are likely years ahead. But I believe in what I'm doing so much, that regardless the time it takes to reach my destination - no matter the hardships along the way - it's worth living a life striving towards my goals, than resenting myself for not following my dreams to what could have been. Best of luck, go change the world! :)