I first came across this collection of poems via the secular Buddhist author Stephen Batchelor (best known for Buddhism Without Beliefs). He compared the poem Dear Reader (https://fleursdumal.org/poem/099) with a quote from the 9th century zen monk Te-Shan.

The relevant lines from the poem:

    But among the jackals, the panthers, the bitch hounds,
    The apes, the scorpions, the vultures, the serpents,
    The yelping, howling, growling, crawling monsters,
    In the filthy menagerie of our vices,

    There is one more ugly, more wicked, more filthy!
    Although he makes neither great gestures nor great cries,
    He would willingly make of the earth a shambles
    And, in a yawn, swallow the world;

    He is Ennui! — His eye watery as though with tears,
    He dreams of scaffolds as he smokes his hookah pipe.
    You know him reader, that refined monster,
    — Hypocritish reader, — my fellow, — my brother!

The quote from the zen monk:

    What is known as "realising the mystery" is nothing other than breaking through to grab an ordinary person's life.

The meaning I take is that the "final boss" of our journey, whether that's in meditation or programming, is confronting and integrating the non-zero possibility that we may never achieve our goals. It's not to dissuade us from even trying, it's rather to remind us where the true battle is: the immediate task at hand. Lack of focus and motivation aren't obstacles on the path, they _are_ the path, they are the final boss itself.

tl;dr success is 1% inspiration 99% perspiration