A lot of people find meaning in creating some sort of legacy that outlasts them. Something about old men planting trees whose shade they will never sit in and whatnot. And some of those people try to do it through their career. Marcus Aurelius wrote extensively and convincingly about the futility of creating a lasting legacy--about how everyone and their deeds will inevitably be forgotten when the last person who remembers them finally dies--but his words are a little bit undermined by the sheer fact that I read them millennia after his death.
But personally, I'd rather just have kids than try and have a successful enough career that I become a historical figure.
But personally, I'd rather just have kids than try and have a successful enough career that I become a historical figure.