Mentor
This is advice I received some time back from my mentor and I am merely passing it along. Views are mostly expressed by my mentor, but I do tend to agree with them.
Quoting (but in my writing style) him from one of his email -
For everybody who wants to be somebody derives inspiration, motivation from some one else. Lot of it comes from with in, but there are things which we are just blindly following from other peoples life. Be it Steve Jobs, Sergy Brin, Roger Fedrer, Alex Ferguson or any body else, who is successful. Many times, journalists create a very romantic picture about life of such people. Now the people I have mentioned here are very well known and popular. But there are cases where that may not be the case. A journalist telling story about how a 15 year kid innovated etc. What these people forget to mention is, what tools were available to this kid.
I am not trying to take away any thing from these success stories. You should read them. But just remember, you are in completely different surroundings. Tools you have available for achieving success (being successful does not necessarily mean achieving success) are very different from some of the people who are trying to emulate on some level. So beware - find the complete story. Don’t believe everything you read about people. Dont push yourself the wrong way. If a kid all of 15 years old can do this then why cant I? Never ever base your professional (or personal) life on if they I can, then so can I. Thats not a very healthy and persistent motivation. It may give you spike in your motivational levels, but never a continuous thrust of inspiration.
Hope this helps you too, like it helped me.
Update - Dont know why but I felt like sharing this with you after watching 3 Idiots.