Are Successful People Always Driven By Others?

[a e l i]

Whenever I read or hear about someone successful, I find their purpose to be something along the lines of "I want to impact other people's lives". I noticed this is very very common especially among creators.

I, on the other hand, don't feel much motivated by people: I wouldn't call myself traditionally selfish, but stuff like understanding the world is what I'd tirelessly strive for, while helping others doesn't fire me up that much.

So, is it necessary to be motivated by others when it comes to career? Am I just an individualistic kind of person or is it that my ego blocking me in this zone?

[AHappyTeddyBear]

I've always viewed this as useless. You are always dependent on the other person to get your motivation, and your motivation will very likely only be temporarily and you will find yourself with no drive to keep going soon after! See where I am going with this ? Motivation is only there for a short amount of time, if it was on a longterm day-to-day basis I would understand it but not this way. Be your own king and motivation.

Peace

[Pallero]

You might not realize it, but you might end up impacting other people's lives without consciously intending to.

Or: you might get motivated in a different way later.

But I've been wondering about the same thing. How much do I think about others as I construct my life purpose and how much about myself. Lately, I've gone from "no one would want my help or services" to "I might have something of value to offer". And it's thanks to Actualized.org, among others.

[MIARIVEL]

Whether you know it or not, other people always influence you and challenge the way you think, this in turn makes you the person you choose to be. 

When it comes to a career, You have to learn from the best in order to be one of the best, no one successful just made success happen on their own without the knowledge and somewhat motivation from others. You may not always take other peoples opinions or advice but it still influences you. 

My beliefs is always giving back to others, and I'm not saying that because Im a life coach, I believe even the people who hurt me the worse possible way has taught me a great lesson, one that I will always carry with me and has motivated me to be and do better. They showed me the type of person I never want to become or be around. In any career you choose, I believe even you being a nice respectful person can motivate others to want to be like you. You never know who you make an impact on. 

Its okay to be selfish, just don't forget the people who taught you lessons to help you in any areas of your life, I don't believe anyone can get anywhere far in this life alone and not learning and developing from others. To understand the world is to understand people because we make the world what it is today. 

[Dangirdas]

I believe that you're purely driven by your own motivation when it comes to survival, but when it comes to other things you will always be motivated by others if you like it or not. Depending on what values and what goals you have of course. If you are chasing something nobody else is chasing, then the motivation will purely come from yourself, if you are chasing something that many other people also chase, and many before you chased before, then you will be motivated by others no matter what.

[a e l i]

Ok, I get that people influence me and that I influence them, no matter what. But that doesn't mean my goal is to influence people, that's just something that happens and it doesn't give me motivation.

All the successful people I see around me want to impact people in the best way they can. I guess that's part of their life purpose, and I was wondering if having that purpose is necessary to be motivated enough to run a business or things like that.

Please explain if I'm missing something.

Edited February 8, 2016 by a e l i

[Leo Gura]

Your purpose doesn't have to be about helping people directly. You could contribute to humanity in many many ways.

A lone-wolf scientist could discover the structure of the DNA molecule without directly trying to help people. But he has still made a valuable contribution to humanity.

You could also choose to help not just humanity but animals, the ecosystem, the planet, etc.

It's not really about helping others. It's about whatever you feel is meaningful for you to do with your ONE life.

If you find it meaningful to sit at home alone and jerk off. Hey, that's fine! Do that then. But in truth you probably don't find that meaningful. For human beings, meaningful activities usually involve contributing positively to humanity in some fashion.

[a e l i]

Okay, I think I got it, thanks