After sitting here for two hours waiting for baby girl to run down her batteries, I have aswered my first question. In case anyone else didn't realize it lol--the motivation matters.
And I'm thinking that the answer to the second question is that yes, it is possible. At least to a certain extent. I doubt I would have realized how much the motivation matters if it wasn't.

*Sigh, I don't know why simple concepts can be so difficult to grasp.