The superior man makes the difficulty to be overcome his first interest success only comes later.

Attention aimed at the obstacle behaves differently from attention aimed at the reward. Focusing on the difficulty puts you in contact with the actual problem, which is where any real progress gets made, while focusing on the outcome tends to produce anxiety and shortcuts. The ordering matters more than the ambition; wanting to win is fine, and it is a poor set of instructions.

For whatever you are working on, name the single hardest part and make that the thing you are curious about this week. Give it your best hours. Results tend to follow people who were genuinely interested in the obstacle.