If you want to be successful, let no one ever tell you what to do.
If you work for someone else, develop your own goals and define success for you above and beyond what your company needs you to do. Seek out new responsibilities, and take it upon yourself to find what needs to be done and do it. Be so proactive that no one will ever dare to remind you or tell you what to do. Do all of these things and you will soon find yourself in a leadership role.
If you want to be an entrepreneur, own your own company, and do your own thing, there won’t be anyone there to tell you what to do. Unless and until you develop the ability to do what is necessary without ever being told what to do, you aren’t ready to strike out on your own. And until you are willing to do what must be done–even when you absolutely don’t want to–you’ll never reach the level of success of which you are capable.
Learn from everyone. Seek out good advice. But let no one ever tell you what to do.