The Law of Life

"Abide by whatever task is set before you as if it were a law, and as if you would be committing sacrilege if you went against it. But pay no attention to whatever anyone says about you, since that falls outside what is yours."
-Handbook of Epictetus
If we lived that way, our quality of life would improve. I'm sure of it, because if you made all the effort you could for certain tasks, we would perform greatly in all areas. People with special talents would perform almost unnaturally well, and science and technology would improve a lot. However, we need a motivation to make our biggest effort. Sometimes we have it, but most of the time we don't have enough motivation to make our BIGGEST effort. I don't think anyone has ever done his or her BIGGEST effort in something, unless he or she does it instinctively, like for example, a mother trying to save her child. In Slaughterhouse Five, for example, I think Billy Pilgrim lacks motivation greatly, since he knows that no matter what he does, life will always be the same, and that there's no point in actually making an effort. For example, when Valencia tells him she's going on a diet, he reacts by telling her that its useless because anyways they will live happily married. He tells her not to make the effort because its not worth it, so she never really gets on a diet. I don't understand how Billy Pilgrim had such a great life and did so well if he didn't really care about what he did. However, according to Billy, life is written, so maybe his life was just written that way. I personally think that's not right, and I think that we should always look for some kind of motivation, like imagining that your task is sacred, so that we can make the best effort possible, even though it can be difficult sometimes.