if you have a reason why it's worth pursuing, you will never become really good. You'll become above average at best.
The number one reason why people become good at anything is that they first became obsessed.
The number one reason why people become good at anything is that they first became obsessed.
Take chess (I have 2000+ fide elo, so I have some experience here). The practical value of being good at chess is close to zero, unless you can make money of it. Now, there are some 1500 GMs in the world, and most of them can't even make enough money from chess to become a professional. If you approach this with a rational mind, you will never even start putting in time. The same reasoning works for almost everything (sports, arts,...).