Achievement becomes cleaner when proving people wrong stops funding it.

Proving someone wrong is a powerful engine and a poor one. It gets you started, but it keeps your direction tied to whoever doubted you, so you end up building a life shaped by their opinion in the negative. It also runs out, because at some point they stop paying attention, and the work has to stand on something else or stop.

If a particular person’s doubt is driving you, try asking what you would build if they had never said anything. The answer is usually adjacent but not identical, and the difference is where your own interest lives. Move toward that version while the momentum is still useful.