Changing human behavior

There are only three motivating factors that change human behavior; pain, fear or ambition. Which button do you want to push?-- Steve Hogg, 2007

I see people who need to change their behavior for the sake of better health. I look at these three factors and talk about the 'buttons' to find out what will help them do better. The hard part is identifying what buttons have been pushed in the past to put them on the course of poor nutrition and sedentary activity. Why these old buttons so much more powerful than the new buttons associated with their current state of compromised health? Or is it simply a matter of presently insufficient pain, fear and ambition to lead to change.

An interesting example are patients so fearful of hypoglycemia that they never let their blood glucose drop under 200 mg/dl. After a few years of this the pain of neuropathy, vision loss or kidney dialysis set in. Yet, even that level of pain does not outweigh the fear of hypoglycemia.

So, what motivates you? Why? I'd love to read your answers.