Doing What is Right, Vs, Personal Approval

For me, what matters is how I live my life, that I do the right thing, that my principles and and my behaviour mesh, that I walk the talk ... Not long ago I thought that what others think of me didn't figure into this equation at all. Thinking this way helped me to avoid the temptation of doing things just to gain approval, and believe me, such has  always been one of my biggest temptation... Recently however, I've been coming to understand  that how others see me is a very important part of  my walking my talk... 

You see, I believe we are all connected, that we all are part of an interdependent web of life. Not only do my actions have  repercussion along and within this web, but I have a direct responsibility to those I come in contact with, to accept them for who they are, and to treat them with  the same decency, respect, and compassion that I believe all people deserve. 

Indirectly and directly what I do and say affects other peoples lives, and I cannot escape the responsibility of this.  What amazes me is that I could believe in what I do, and not realize that how others see me is a direct indication of how successful I am in walking this talk of mine.

In short, if those I come in contact with see me as a positive part of their life, then I must be doing something right with treating them with said decency, respect, and compassion. At the very least, the opposite indicates that I am not being very successful at it.

But now I have a  problem. In a way, I've just given myself permission to gain the approval of others, a temptation I've tried very hard to avoid much of my adult life. 

Up until now it's been easy for me to keep the two motivations separate; for me to decide if something was the right thing to do I simply had to remove the incentive of person gain, and if it still looked good without it, it was the right thing to do.  But if another's approval is an indication of my getting my interaction with them 'right',  how am I to judge if what I am doing is for the right reason? Now that doing the right thing could very easily give me something I desire and need, how will I resist the temptation to see all personal approval as an indication that I've done the right thing?