8. Motivation
Every villain needs a motive for what he does. What's yours? Is there anything or anyone you desire? Something you have to prove? Something or someone you hate? Consider your motives and set goals based on them. Make your plans with those goals in mind. Let them be your guiding principles. Every morning, when you're practicing your ranting and nurturing your inner villainous child, remind yourself why you do what you do. I want each and everyone of you to take a deep, healing breath and make a vow.
I, <your name>, <your title or trademark boast>, vow to <commit villainous deed of your choice>. I shall not be deterred from carrying this out. Not even death shall keep me from my goal. Let <name of arch-enemy>; try his worst! He shall have all eternity to mourn his failure from within the bowels of <Netherworld of your choice>! <your evil laugh>
If you're finding it difficult to find a reason for your villainous deeds, don't worry. This does not make you any less of a villain. Some villains do just fine without any motive at all, performing vicious deeds for their own sake. The problem is that writers of touchy-feely self-help manuals tend to interpret this behaviour as a cry for help, and will quite easily convince millions of people that this is the case before you've fulfilled your villainous potential. The other alternative is to make up a reason. Pick a race, religion or any group of any people and blame them for some slight or injustice. Whip up fervour among your troops and direct every ounce of your hatred at this enemy. You'll soon get where you need to be in terms of villainy!
The problem with motivations is that they can soon burn themselves out. No problem! You can always find another! So you've wiped the elves out after blaming them for all your misfortunes? Surely the dwarves were in league with them, as well as the gnomes and the halflings! If you're finding that a little hard to swallow, try setting yourself an unattainable goal; something that'll keep you going and wreaking havoc well into your later years. Searching for an artefact that might or might not exist is a good idea – or perhaps you could make the name of an item up at random if you want to be sure of never finding it. 99% of villainy is about unsatisfied desire. It makes good sense to ensure that such desire is logically guaranteed to go unsatisfied.