Csikszentmihalyi - the author of Flow - notes,
"Contrary to what we usually believe... the best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times - although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when a
person's body or mind is stretched to the limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile."
Deci in an earlier book writes about motivation,
"The question so many people ask - namely, 'How do I motivate people to learn? to work? to do their chores? or to take their
medicine?' - are the wrong questions. They are wrong because they imply that motivation is something that gets done to
people rather than something that people do."