If you become one of the best programmers in the world, what will you have achieved? What is there about programming that captures your passion? Will that be sustainable for the brief moment you are alive. What do you want as a legacy after 80 years of work?

One example: The Hacker's Conference ["Hackers"]. It is populated by a diverse group of people, . Attendees program, but I doubt that anyone of the attendees would call themselves a programmer except in jest.

Hackers do what they do. Some are mathematicians, some are musicians. At least one plays the organ. Others are into sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Some are spiritual, some agnostic. Some climb mountains. Others worry about how to planet-form the earth to recover from an over-abundance of CO2. Some have families and kids, some do not. Everyone is interested in everything. Hackers know things, observe, and learn things. They delight in sharing knowledge, particularly arcane knowledge. They are compassionate, ethical, and loving (although there are occasional exceptions).

If you are good at programming you are likely to be good at living an exploratory life. Be fearless and brash. Always wonder why and learn how.