Do you really need to upgrade your gear?

As photographers we are always looking at ways to improve. We scour the net looking for articles and tutorials that will help us improve our photography as well as our workflow. A lot of that time is spent looking at what others have achieved with all their different camera's, lenses, filters... (the list goes on and on). This always leads us to the assumption that we need better gear to up our game so we can get to the next level that we so desire to reach. Here is what we fail to realize. How long have the people we are watching and learning from, taken to get to the point they are in, in their careers? We spend so much time looking and learning from all these people that we forget that they too, were just like us at one point. Trying anything and everything to achieve the results that they've been chasing. I bet that if you ask any one of these people if they are happy with where they are with their photography, most of them will tell you that they are still working