Easier said than done, but I believe you need to be in charge. This can take many forms, but I lean toward self employment creating a product the customers use as a black box. Let me elaborate on the points of that last statement... "Self employment": I talking small company where you are in charge. Trying to be an entrepreneur in a large corporate setting or another founder's startup means that at the end of the day, they decide what is next, not you. "Customers use as a black box": Again, this is about who is in charge. If the customer is familiar with the inner workings or the possible features, they will leverage their investment in you to change priorities. What does this mean? You need to find a way to produce a product that people will pay you for, and pay you enough to support yourself and others (depending upon the complexity of the product). As you can see, I value self determination above anything else (as far as work goes). My motivation currently is fear of loss (albeit very little of it) of employment. I don't think that would change much if I were "self employed creating a product the customers use as a black box", but it would pivot much more closely to my choices than choices made for me.