I'm using the JLPT as a goal, but probably my biggest motivation, currently, is my conversation practice with my tutor; I hate not being able to communicate my ideas, so every time we have a conversation, I get this feeling of not being satisfied, so it makes me want to learn more. For example, I showed her a video (here) about a super computer that is being used to simulate all matters of the heart (blood flow, individual muscle contractions, side-effects of drugs, oxygen flow, nerve impulses, etc), and could barely express my excitement about it beyond これはすごいですね...
I recently started doing more writing practice too, so I have that same motivation while I'm trying to produce coherent communication through writing. I'm really not that good at production at all, so I make use of my frustration to improve (I don't know how to say this! Okay, let's start searching what might work to see if people say it that way; hmm... maybe I can get some hints from Japanese translations of this phrasing. Okay, I've written it, now to find out if it's right.)
If you're not working with a tutor or have someone to converse with regularly, I suggest you find one. Having someone to talk to (and subsequently embarrass myself in front of) has really helped me, both in terms of learning and motivation (in regards to improving my speaking, at least; I'm mostly on auto-pilot with reading, recently).
I recently started doing more writing practice too, so I have that same motivation while I'm trying to produce coherent communication through writing. I'm really not that good at production at all, so I make use of my frustration to improve (I don't know how to say this! Okay, let's start searching what might work to see if people say it that way; hmm... maybe I can get some hints from Japanese translations of this phrasing. Okay, I've written it, now to find out if it's right.)
If you're not working with a tutor or have someone to converse with regularly, I suggest you find one. Having someone to talk to (and subsequently embarrass myself in front of) has really helped me, both in terms of learning and motivation (in regards to improving my speaking, at least; I'm mostly on auto-pilot with reading, recently).