Money. I hate to be so cliche but money is the absolute #1 driving force for everything I do / learn / work towards.
People say money can't buy happiness, and that may be true, but money can help buy life. Without money you can't see doctors, you can't receive cancer treatment, its more difficult to get a good education without money, it's difficult to do fun things without money.
Yes, we're programmers and you don't need to goto school to learn a language, but my kids may not necessarily be programmers. Hopefully they want to become doctors, or dentists, or lawyers or engineers. And those jobs require degrees and those degrees require money, sometimes, lots of it. Can they earn it on they're own and get school loans like everyone else? Absolutely - but if I can help them accomplish their goals, all the better.
Having my name known in some obscure group only known to programmers - meh. Walking into a room and people recognizing my face and coming up to talk to me? meh. Putting snow tires on a $250,000 sports car and driving around in a NY winter? hell yes - because I can and because I earned it.
For me money is a tool. It is an important factor in any major decision, but not my main motivation. However I will tailor what I do to take into account the importance of money.
There are bills to pay and mouths to feed. There are also short vs. long term money issues to resolve. And retirement and unexpected future health costs to consider.
Having a $250k sports car is not important to me but having a few million in property investments so I don't need to work is quite appealing. But if I have to lose 10 years of my life away from my passions to achieve that then ... well meh!
I think your priorities are closer to what they should be for a natural biological being.
Also, I think people who work extra hard to just to move from their ordinary social circle to elite circle are missing the point. The goal is not to change from being an average person in one social circle to being an average person in a higher social circle, but to stay in the same social circle and become the best in that circle - doesn't matter which circle it is.
I don't know what "I think your priorities are closer to what they should be for a natural biological being." means.
Social circle is of no significance to me - having a nice house and car in the city or suburbs (where I live, the suburbs are the place to be, not the city) wouldn't matter to me. The upper class here lives in the suburbs, but to have the same house in the city would be ok with me, so long as it's a house that I like. A nice car was specifically mentioned because I'm into cars. Some people love sports; I love cars. To own a hand made Ferrari or Lamborghini or ... is a great achievement IMO.
Some people and some I know could care less - they strive to go on great relaxing vacations. Some strive for security with money in the bank. Everyone has their own goals. These are mine.
I agree. Money is my motivation, but not in and of itself. I am motivated to acquire money because it is necessary for me to live, enjoy myself, and also create more achievements that are personally gratifying but also ideally feed back into the cycle.
People say money can't buy happiness, and that may be true, but money can help buy life. Without money you can't see doctors, you can't receive cancer treatment, its more difficult to get a good education without money, it's difficult to do fun things without money.
Yes, we're programmers and you don't need to goto school to learn a language, but my kids may not necessarily be programmers. Hopefully they want to become doctors, or dentists, or lawyers or engineers. And those jobs require degrees and those degrees require money, sometimes, lots of it. Can they earn it on they're own and get school loans like everyone else? Absolutely - but if I can help them accomplish their goals, all the better.
Having my name known in some obscure group only known to programmers - meh. Walking into a room and people recognizing my face and coming up to talk to me? meh. Putting snow tires on a $250,000 sports car and driving around in a NY winter? hell yes - because I can and because I earned it.