Key points

Intrinsic passion isn’t supreme or sustainable; most jobs need external rewards to stay tolerable.

Your brain values control and autonomy more than whether motives are “pure.”

Motivation shifts—use self-generated rewards judiciously and avoid self-labeling your motivation.

Ever since books like Drive crowned intrinsic motivation as the holy grail, we’ve been sold the idea that every other motive in the book is second-rate. If you don't “follow your passion," then you’re doing life wrong. Crave recognition, influence, or dream of being the next Bezos or Musk? Suddenly you’re a narcissist—or worse, a capitalist villain. Here’s the truth: that story is motivational malarky, and the research shows that the passion narrative is unsustainable (Hoffman, 2025). Chasing passion a

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