I believe there is a driving force within some people to find a "higher" level of achievement -- even if that is never "actualized" in the 3D world and they fail to meet with "success"
I also believe that some people start off as "different" from the others; in my opinion, they, literally, have an extra gear
and so, as a result, they are "driven" in ways others maybe are not . . . also, it is common (as I "see" past life "themes") for people to have more than one "vocational calling"
for example, my primary "job" in the past has been, as far as I can see, a high ranking Army officer . . . yet I also have many lifetimes in which I was a monk, spiritual teacher, etc
plus the artist wild child lifetimes, just to add some spice
it is not unusual, to me, to see people who are fairly well-known and to imagine they have been "well-known" before, even if that was for something way way different than what they are known for today
As I "look" at people in understanding their past life "profile", I see them "show up" to me in terms of what I have called "thematic buckets"
think of these as being analogous to vocational groups -- some people's "evolution" is worked out through a backdrop of the job/"calling"
while others tend to see their spiritual evolution best facilitated through interpersonal "relationships"
ultimately, our spiritual "progress" is measured by changes "within" and those changes are ALWAYS a result of interactions, (and our responses), with other people
we cannot grow without others -- even if we live in a cave, all alone, it is our understanding of ourself in relationship to the greater big bad universe
that serves as the yardstick for our own internal "quest for harmony"
sometimes I might be 60 % this and 20 % that and 20 % something else (as we look at our primary "thematic buckets" -- and typically people tend to have 3 primary ones, sometimes 4)
while next time I am 80 % the "something else" -- but leopards don't become canaries and canaries don't show up as tigers
there is a core "spiritual truth" to who we are . . . and I believe, very strongly, it keeps coming back, every time