If you enjoy an activity, you will do it often, and doing it often will make you better at it. It doesn't have to be pure joy — it just has to be enjoyable enough to keep drawing you back.
I am an amateur researcher who is interested in under-explored fundamental questions and then pursues them with whatever tools seem most powerful, writing among them.1
My contribution to the math community is to publish blog posts that draw readers into the world of mathematics through my point of view which makes them interested in seeking out the background concepts themselves.