Motivation is the desire to escape discomfort

Let me put it another way: Nir's argument seems to be that motivation is derived entirely from avoiding negative consequences or outcomes.

That doesn't account for things like personal hobbies, where a person is more motivated to pass the time in a particular way.

There are people who do what others would call "work" just for fun, when they could otherwise just be relaxing with a glass of wine. There's no aversive experience from choosing the wine instead -- they just prefer to do the hobby.