I'm coming to realize that humans can't act without the impulse of motivation. In a causal universe, every action needs to have a cause. And when it comes to human action, that cause is motivation. This is what it means to have free will.

Of course, sometimes this kind of action is long-lasting, for example programming yourself with a habit or repeating pattern, or riding momentum to batch actions together. But doing that programming in the first place requires motivation.

Motivation is a causal link between your values and available action. If you understand with clarity the value you stand to gain by the action, the action inexorably follows as surely as water flows downhill. This pressure gradient is motivation.

Motivation has the structure of a Category. The objects are ends and the arrows are means. What you need is a composite arrow from the end of "performing this task" to some ultimate end of gaining a value you truly care about.