Nothing of real importance comes without great concentration, great effort, and great determination. This does mean that you must sacrifice your little self in order to help create and to become that bigger self, for the little must be subsumed by the larger. So that, all those that live to themselves, think just about themselves, and do things that are of benefit only to themselves, will at best, create a nice little niche for themselves, but will not be able to grow beyond that, for they do not have the capacity or desire to do so, and lacking that they will not be able to develop themselves, fully.
Unfortunately, there are people that believe that the whole point of living is to just sit back and to idly enjoy themselves, never seeming to ever self-reflect that they are really meant to put forth a greater effort than that, which is especially disappointing when they are born into situations in which much of what they have, has been handed to them, rather than they honestly having to labor for it. Further to the point, the more that you are privileged with, the greater the expectation that you should have in accomplishing meaningful things for others, rather than not developing further those innate gifts so provided to you.
When you look around the world and thoroughly study all that is around you, take special note of those great institutions and civilizations that you admire and respect, recognize that, these things could only exist through the dedication of purpose and sacrifice of other people, that went far beyond, their own little world, but were instead, relentless and dedicated in their focus and purpose to bring to their fellow sojourners a better world, built not just for themselves, but inclusive of all others in their domain.
For instance, take, for example, our Declaration of Independence, the seminal document in American history, that Declaration, without the actions and the revolution that followed for our independence, would have meant in the skein of time, relatively little, if, those that had written such and attested to that Declaration, had lost their resolve to overcome the occupying force that oppressed them as a people. While the Declaration was signed on July 4, 1776, the war for American independence did not conclude until September 3, 1783 when the Treaty of Paris was signed by both parties.
So it is in anything in life, that in order to create all of the great scientific advances, wonderful infrastructure, and good governance, necessitates a multitude of people working diligently, often, under trying conditions, to get those things done, of which, some of the beneficiaries of this, have done little or nothing to accomplish these changes. In all of this, the people at the forefront have sacrificed themselves, to the greater good, and sometimes to their own destruction in order to make a better society, because their vision encompassed far more than just themselves, for they were people that strongly desired to see that by their sacrifice, that not only would the present generation benefit, but upon the shoulders of that generation, even greater things would be initiated and accomplished, all because of those so dedicated to achieving those lasting significant works.