This seems a little sad on one hand, on the other I get it, but careful the path to the jaded side. Personally, I do it because I enjoy pushing it as far as possible, for myself. I feel like I have a long long way to go to where I want to be. That underlying feeling keeps me coming at it. Of course the flip side to jaded is burned out, so you have to watch out for pushing too hard. When I first became a manager 10 years ago one of my designers asked me why my standards are so high, the exec team doesn’t care… I replied my standards were high for myself. As long as you understand that it is for your own satisfaction and enjoyment and you don’t do it for the proverbial pat on the back, I think its all good.
It isn’t sad or particularly jaded. It’s me being pragmatic. Part of it is probably that I don’t view myself as an artist, but rather someone that figures stuff out. The other part is that I feel best when I get in 8-9 hours of sleep, cook my own meals, get my hour or two of strenuous activity in, and play with my kids and read the paper. If I don’t get that, I’m not a happy camper. At the end of the day, my job is not my life - it’s a means to an end, and while often stimulating, it is not a substitute for living.
Bringing it back to the main idea - competitive people versus noncompetitive people - I think the competitive people tend to be bad at making that distinction between work and life, or often grossly over-prioritize the centrality of their work to their persona. Which is fine, as long as those folks keep that to themselves and don’t let their personal need for uncompromising excellence prevent “good enough” work from going out the door the 90% of the time that “good enough” actually is “good enough.”