It's a complex idiomatic phrasal verb. It basically means "to motivate". "What motivates you?" = "What makes you tick?" "Painting motivates me." = "Painting makes me tick." The verb references the sounds of a clock; a clock ticks as its hands move around. What makes that clock tick? The gears make it tick. In that way, humans are insinuated to be very complex clocks; we all have some sort of "gears" that make us move ahead in life.