People Pleaser

It's worse than that. There is no step 2. You will never get external validation. Your achievements, credentials, etc., the people who have already made up their minds about you will pretend they don't see it. If you rub it in their face, they will avert their gaze. You can cure cancer and all it will do is get under their skin and make them hate you more, because not only do they hate you now, but they also hate that you're better than them.

There is no step 2. There is no external validation. There is only achievement, then internal validation, then stepping on these malicious vermin who want to drag you down rather than lift themselves up. Most of the population is made up of people like this, who don't seek to achieve, but they sabotage those around them. Like a runner who doesn't train to run faster, but instead slips poison into the meals of the other runners so he can still finish first.