Comments by "Itinerant Patriot" (@itinerantpatriot1196) on "The Art of Building a Fulfilling Career - Turn a Passion into a Lucrative Occupation" video.

  1. Nice advice, but life doesn't always deal you the hand that allows you pursue your dreams in that way. I remember seeing a show many years ago where they listed what they considered to be the worst jobs on Earth. The winner for worst job went to working in a sulfur pit. They spoke with a guy who worked in one (I think it was in Indonesia) and he looked to be about 70. Turns out he was 35. Life expectancy for people working there maxed out somewhere around 45. How much energy do you suppose he would have had to devote to higher pursuits? I'm sure if given a choice he would have preferred a job on Wall Street but he had a family to raise and that was where he was at. I'm not saying he should have just accepted his fate but they didn't go into his backstory so who knows what was really keeping him there. When I was raising a family I had other people depending on me so I did what I had to do. I always made the best of it and moved up as best I could. I was very goal driven. I had to have a goal. Pretty soon I became goal addicted. My first attempt at retirement was a complete disaster because of that addiction. I fought like hell to get back into the workforce and when I got where I wanted to be I came to the realization that it was an empty victory. I was right where I wanted to be, making more money than I had ever seen, and I hated every bit of it. Life isn't about what you achieve, it's about what you value. Who knows, maybe that guy in the sulfur pit had it right because when they asked him about his lot in life he said he was doing okay, better than some, worse than others. Goal setting is fine, admirable even, but watch out you don't become a slave to it. I did and I wasted a lot of time I can't get back. That's just my take on it though. Remember, life is 10% about what happens to you and 90% about how you respond to it. Just make sure you have your priorities straight. Sometimes you can want something so badly you will sacrifice just about anything to get it and when you get it you find out it really isn't all it's cracked up to be. Just sayin.
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