MY OLD IDEA of min: Most people are motivated by shared ideals.
Probably this is often not the case.
MY CURRENT THINKING:
I suspect that the root motivation of most people stems from some "solution" to a difficult problem then encountered as young children, say age 3-10.
I suspect that those solutions are applied unknowingly for the rest of the persons life. These are the sources that truly motivate and determine their choices and decisions. And almost no one is aware that their childhood dilemmas and their childish solutions is still running their lives.