Is it guilt or appreciation?

[rock86]

As I know there are a whole lot of professionals on this forum, I though I'd pose a question to all on this site about a few thoughts/questions I've had of late as I continue my professional progression.

Now, as with a whole lot of people on this forum, I work hard, I thoroughly enjoy the challenges of my job, and my efforts have seen me continually move up the ladder in our company (although I'm still fairly young and hopefully can continue to climb).

But as of late I've started to notice myself question, not what the end target is, but what drives it? Is the pursuit of success all just purely an ego driven part of our society to achieve certain 'status' in your industry/community? Then when I see those who are in extremely tough circumstances, from no fault of their own; and I ask myself what makes me so special that I have found myself in this position?

Does anyone else on here ever ask these questions? And the one I still find myself struggling to answer for the second question above, is this a feeling of guilt or just appreciation for what you are lucky to have?

 

[JohnK]

The end target was my driving factor for many years. I wanted to set myself up to retire at 40 or 45 years of age.

A few poor decisions along the way and now with young family means I'll be working until at least 60 years of age.