Okay, since others are showing theirs, I'll show mine :

Like GeneralAntilles said, karma can be a great personal motivator. My personal goal last year was to make it to the first page, which I did. Current goal is to stay there.

I realized last year that posts and Thanks were not the way to do it, especially if there is an aging factor that causes karma to steadily roll off and need refreshing. So I put more effort into bugs and especially my blog. Paramount to the latter was gaging what the community wanted to read. I used thumb up/down feedback along with comments and newcomer analysis to identify useful topics, and it's paid off. My karma has actually advanced further than I had anticipated, and friendly competition has me periodically refocusing on the high karma (which *should* equal high value for the platform and/or community) activities.