Beyond Crisis

The sense of “crisis” should not be the main driver for personal endeavors, thus there’s no necessity to continuously “cultivate a sense of crisis.”
Of course, the ability to foresee and get rid of crisis needs cultivation - if a crisis arises, it must be addressed. But ordinarily, if we define crisis as a “threat predicted to affect the basic quality of one’s life within their natural lifespan,” this should not be a goal that demands your “lifelong struggle.” Instead, it should be a problem significantly alleviated by your thirties. This is why when people become optimistic, they can no longer use a sense of crisis as their main driving force.

A person’s long-term motivation should come from another source: a sense of mission. “To everyone born with talent, a substantial responsibility is bestowed.” The problem of personal survival has already been solved, but this is not the mission I was born to accomplish. I do not live my life out of fear of survival, but for the extra aims beyond mere survival. The sense of mission is an engine that can endlessly drive you forward.
Often mistakenly confused with a sense of crisis, the sense of mission is concerned with the crisis faced by others. Indeed, one’s sense of mission stems from a concern for crises affecting those other than oneself - friends, family, race, corporation, organization, humanity - rather than a crises directly impacting oneself.

In other words, if you have people you love, if you have objects of loyalty, you gain a sense of mission. This sense of mission can drive you to achieve results unreachable by others. While my people are still struggling to survive, mired in hunger and cold, of course, I simply cannot casually squander my life.
Another driving force is greed. There are plenty of bounty tasks in the world - solid-state batteries, Mars colonization, controlled nuclear fusion, HIV vaccines, depression treatment, each of which is worth more than a fortune. Obviously, for such fame, wealth, and glory, people are willing to burn the candle at both ends.
Although these seem like two different drivers, in reality, they are connected - if it weren’t for the anticipation of the masses behind these things, how could there be such high bounties? However, greed is distinct from love in an essential aspect - love won’t pursue objectives like “an undetectable drug trafficking method,” or “an untraceable method for money laundering,” while greed sees such things as “blue oceans.”
Between these two motivators, the choice is yours.