[BobertK]

I think this applies not just to motivation, but results/productivity. In 'The Fire From Within' (1984) Castaneda says that REAL learning (his emphasis) takes place only in a state of heightened awareness. The essential path to heightened awareness is attention; thus attention control is ESSENTIAL (my emphasis) to any kind of productivity gain or behavior change.

And sumukhi is correct - the pervasive marketing of instant gratification, whether from Madison Ave or Twitter et al is really creating a sort of de-evolutionary effect, whereby human behavior is often marked by self-destructive impulses, with the attendant lack of self-control.

Creativity may seem to arise during a period of inattention but has been well documented to actually occur (seemingly spontaneously) as a result of an immersion in attention (the "the harder I work the smarter\luckier I get" effect.