> profound lack of drive

That assumes you want to be doing the thing you're doing, rather than some other thing (which potentially doesn't generate money.)

Professionally, I'm a programmer. I write code for money.

But vocationally, I'm an author. You know what the best job in the world would be, for me? One where I'm paid a living wage to do nothing at all. Then I would have the free time, the energy, and the resources to write books.

"Why not just become a professional author?" Well, because being a professional author is only a little bit about writing books. A lot of being a professional author is about selling books. Going on tour to signings, appearing on morning talk-shows, and just generally running the business of extracting royalties from your book.

But I am not, vocationally, a businessman who happens to be good at writing books, and so sees that as an appealing strategy toward an end-goal of "making money." No, I'm an author. I love writing, not money. I love seeing people's smiles when I reach them with my writing. Money is a means to that end—a way to keep me alive so I can keep doing the thing that makes me happy. If I could be kept alive and functioning and able-to-write without any income, I'd gladly have none.

I would say that I have plenty of drive. Just... not for doing the thing that I do for money.

Honestly, your comment annoys me because it puts words in my mouth, as if I'm doing what I want to be doing. As if I DREAMED of being a back-end developer my whole life. As if I'm some artless drone that can't understand the mind of an artist.

> That assumes you want to be doing the thing you're doing, rather than some other thing (which potentially doesn't generate money.)

No, it doesn't at all. It means I would rather be doing something more useful than browsing facebook all day for a job I'm being paid to do. It means I don't dump all of my work onto the people around me and be a complete parasite. It means I want stability and praise instead of constant fear of being discovered and fired and ruining my own life.

Most of us do not want to work, that is why we are paid for it. The vast majority of people do their job to get by.

> But vocationally, I'm an author. You know what the best job in the world would be, for me? One where I'm paid a living wage to do nothing at all. Then I would have the free time, the energy, and the resources to write books.

Yes, I would love to hang out at home and read books all day, constantly learning new things.

If I could drop everything and not have to care about having a roof over my head, I would be a video game developer or an artist.

BUT, I don't have rich parents or anybody to support me. I don't have the privilege of not working, most people do not.

So instead I'm a slacker programmer who doesn't work overtime, gets by, and lives his life the best he can in his down time.

> I would say that I have plenty of drive. Just... not for doing the thing that I do for money.

To be clear: I'm specifically talking in the context of people who are so dysfunctional that they automate their jobs and do literally nothing for years. If I was in their position I would find something more interesting to spend my time on.

What do you do after that? Who is going to hire you after being fired for defrauding the company? Also: I believe doing things like this CAN open you up to liability. Also often a company owns everything you do with their computer, or that you do during work hours.