Know Yourself

According to Art of War by Sun Tzu (孫子）,
"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles."
(知彼知己、百戦不殆) "From en.wikiquote.org"
(I wasn't sure how to translate them from Japanese....So I searched.)

Until very recently I didn't show much interest to other people.
That's must be the reason that my commuinication skill was not improving.
Opponent is more suitable word for enemy in the original context.
At least I don't see other people as my enemy.
Actually opposite, I think people should help each other.

On the other hand, I'm getting better at knowing my feeling.
Here I would like to describe about one of my weakness.

When I took a "Personal Development" course several years ago, one of the assignment was to rank what gives me the motivation to work.
There were 10 things such as "money", "fame" and "skill up".
The Top One I chose was "Praise".
I clearly remember that a student sitting next to me scorned when he saw my ranking.
Nobody else in the class thought that "Praise" as the most important thing for work, not even the top 3.
But I'm certain that I feel happier when I receive "praise" than when I receive "money".
I also feel happy when I solve some difficult math problem or accomplish something even no one pay attention. Though I would take "praise" over "challenge".
I think that is vulgar, dirty, horrible, disgusting mind set. It is far away from my ideal mind.
However I must understand and accept the reality first.
That's my weakness.

Dear readers, now you know about me more. So please help me out.
Then study yourself, too. Be honest with your feeling.

Thanks.

NOTE: my vulgar heart loves praises however, it will rejects praises that doesn't make sense.
Also I'm happy to take all sorts of critism because they give chance to think more!