Well, I have to admit I was kind of like that until recently. I did put effort in, but not as much as was needed. Also changing my technique helped. It was after researching "success" in many different fields that I started to discover a repeating pattern. All self made successful people work their arses off and don't stop. It might mean sacrificing some things in your life to achieve it, but that's why we are fascinated with such people; they go the extra miles that most are not willing to do.
Yes, there will always be a majority of people who only do enough, that's the 99%. The 1% are those who do excess of enough.
Recently I found a book that opened my eyes even more about what is efficient practice, and how to apply it no matter where. It's called the "Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle". That might be interesting for you to check.
Thanks, I'll investigate.