I know the exact dichotomy you're talking about -- I had that when I first started. After some time, and becoming witness, I've been focusing hard on finding ways to become more altruistic, and improve the community as much as I can. I've done this through making @cheetah, and bootstrapping @steemcleaners. I think (and hope) that as people stay here longer, they start thinking about longer term success as you have. :)
And oh, no, @xeroc made streemian! I meant to say that I just set myself up on streemian so I was an available curator. Curie is a fantastic choice to follow too!