Two people can do the same good thing for different reasons. Only one of them will keep doing it when nobody claps.

Two identical good deeds can be made of completely different material. One happens because it works and somebody needed it, the other because it was seen, and in the moment they look the same from outside. The difference shows up the first time nobody notices, which is when one of them quietly stops happening.

Check your own motive on something you do regularly, without turning it into a trial. Then do one version where credit is impossible. That tells you whether the habit belongs to you or to your audience.