Ask HN: Why do people get absorbed by some things but not others?

As succinctly as I can: How and why do people have genuine interest in things? How do they maintain that interest over time? What initially determined their interest in that thing?

My thoughts on this question stem from noticing how people do a faster and better job when they are interested in a task. In my own life, I've noticed times when I've been obsessed with programming, or a video game. However, I've also had many times where I had to work hard to force myself to solve problems - I just couldn't convince myself to care. I want to understand what the difference is, and hopefully exploit the knowledge to have a more productive and comfortable life.

In other individuals, I've been envious of their ability to stay deeply engaged with things for long periods of times. Some of the most successful people I know are ones who somehow continue to care about a topic long after others would've given up. Why do they continue to care?

I've also noticed there is a difference between genuine interest versus actions driven by a 2nd order interest (e.g. "I'm doing X for the money", "I'm doing X because I'm obligated"). Activities driven by 2nd order interests seem less skillfully performed. Unfortunately, humans seem wired to have genuine interests in short-term rewards, which ends up meaning there is a performance hit for long term goals since "I'm doing X so one day it will pay off". It would be more ideal to just prefer things which would be long term good for you.

I've read a lot about Flow, but I don't think thats the entire answer. For example: I know a lot more about programming know than I used to...but I don't stay up until 4 AM coding stuff any more.

I expect some responses about burnout at well, which is actually part of the question. How do people go harder than others, and not burn out? How can I have this for myself?