This is probably the worst topic I could possibly make for the purpose of keeping myself motivated, but I am always auto-counterproductive anyway so whatever.
I'm sure that, given the age range of many users here, you've heard them old timers talking about how them millennials or whatever don't know the value of hard work, and thus suck and are doomed to failure.
You know ignoring how a lot of the time these same adults will be spending the vast majority of their free time watching shallow, formulaic TV dramas and getting addicted to smartphone games. (yes, I do realize this problem is just as relevant to younger people that actually have the time for it.)
The way the value of hard work is described is in that, if something is too easy, it will be easily discarded/neglected, and will not form a true emotional connection with you. Oh and because how much you get high off dopamine is dependent on how much time and effort was invested into getting there. But we'll go off the former since for the latter...honestly, just find a reliable drug dealer. Waaaaaaaaay more payoff for far smaller investment if we're going off chemicals of pleasure.
I, personally, have a really detrimental relationship with this logic.
The first thing is, because hard work is so emphasized, I feel like every small accomplishment I make is virtually pointless, and that especially applies the more effort is put into lesser return. It's minuscule. Amounts to absolutely nothing meaningful if the product does not get as completed as complete can possibly be, and because that product can be me in itself, it seems impossible to actually get there. I feel no passion. I feel no attachment(because of the amount of effort put into it.) It's all useless and it reflects on my own lack of meaningful power. #aznproblems
(I think this is why I play so many video games. I always feel like what I do in them will pay off soon enough because little things add up so easily and are so immediately useful and visible.)
The second thing is, when I do pull off something after the effort put into overcoming the relevant challenges, I...don't actually feel better about it. Most of the time, it will make me more likely to devalue it, because of all the effort put into lesser return. At best I will feel that it's finally fucking over, rather than patting myself on the back over how I managed to create the required accomplishment via my accumulated skills/knowledge. At worst I will feel like I wish I never started anything related to it in the first place. This is what I think is actually meaningful about the older generation complaining about people these days not valuing hard work, even if what they are actually trying to say or why they say it is from a completely different perspective.
The only time I can revel in my accomplishment is when the success reflects enough of what I wanted out of it. I didn't want dopamine. I wanted to see what I wanted realized, the time and effort is only a cost, it has no positive emotional returns in itself. I will never feel joy or pride in accomplishment for how high the cost was for it in itself. I am much happier in results that are obtained via less cost, which is why huge sales that just happen to come by get me super excited. The only time I can appreciate working hard is to make things later on in life easier. Think about that for a second. Taking on challenges so it gets easier. It's sounds so incredibly backwards when I put it in that way, even if the logic seems sound enough (get more skill or assets to become more effective at handling the relevant hurdles to climb over.) And then I won't appreciate the hard work anyway because if I ever have to restart for whatever reason, working my way back up to where I was will never feel like it's worth it.
They'll say all they want about how kids these days are so lucky...but maybe I lost something far more valuable than whatever conveniences advancement has brought us. (Said valuable thing is THE GRAND QUEST FOR DOPAMINE, so if I ever start getting addicted to drugs it won't really matter, but I'm too scared of what I or other people will do to me when I'm high so that will take a long time, if ever.)