The hardest thing was already achieved, being interest. "Never excel at" - excel at what? In what time frame? What is the definition of "excel" being applied

The hardest thing was already achieved, being interest. "Never excel at" - excel at what? In what time frame? What is the definition of "excel" being applied? What expectation is not being met such that a topic of interest is no longer worth spending any time on? Many people make solid contributions consisting of a body of standard work, over an entire lifetime. But for the few that "excelled", many will tell you it was the culmination of, or a lucky break during, many years/decades of work that positioned them uniquely when a need or opportunity arose. So that sounds like a lottery, and one sure way of never winning the lottery is never buying a ticket. Not everyone can win a Nobel prize, just based on the number of them available. Regardless, in today's world there are quite a few degrees available which might be considered wasted effort, but I would suggest a CS degree is not one of them, even if only by signalling that holder was able to gain such a degree.