Philosophy vs Human Nature

   We all have been exposed to philosophy in some form or the other. How many of us have actually lived by it. Most often we are completely disconnected from when we engage ourselves in day to day activities. For eg., we know that we are to do our duty and don't expect any results, but we always do that. We should never have any emotions, but that is the first thing that we do and if we don't react in the expected manner and appear indifferent then the society has a blast with it by labelling us, rumour mongering etc. We are supposed to be content with what we have, and if we ever say that we are labelled as having no ambition, worthless, incapable and hence hiding our inability in this philosophical attitude and so on.
    The society is not the only one to blame, we also very much have our part in this blame. We become consumed with materialistic things, we like to have more of everything. We feel bad when we don't get that great hike or the much wanted promotion. We are longing for power, money and fame all the time.
    This causes a big rift in me and I don't know which way to go. Some of you might even think that I have lost it with such thoughts or even worse. But this I am sure is not a dilemma just for me but for most of us. How do you people deal with it? Will you do anything to succeed or follow the philosophical path (does not mean that we will not succeed? With this how and on what attributes should we measure success? Any enlightened ones out there to shed some light on this?