I think there is an element of extrinsic motivation vs intrinsic motivation here.
Extrinsic motivation is where there is something external that is driving you to develop software (money, prestige or perhaps a finished product in this example)
Intrinsic motivation is where you motivated to develop software (or whatever) because you want to develop software (no external reasons)
Obviously there is always an element of both present, and there is nothing wrong with either type of motivation.
The thing to consider is that with extrinsic motivation, it changes. You might have to constantly remind yourself about the reasons, or the motivation may disappear entirely at stages.
With intrinsic motivation, your motivation doesn’t change much over time, and people who are motivated intrinsically to do their kind of work usually do well in their field with far less effort than others.
But even for those that are intrinsically motivated to code, there are always parts of it that are just pure toil.