How refreshing to hear words that aren’t meaningless drivel like the first lady’s last week...worthless!!
This is superb - thanks for posting.
Took me 22 years to admit that, even though I was good and sometimes made 500 percent overnight on options, I was a degenerate and never walked away with a penny.
I’m not a trader. I’m a gambler. Thank goodness it was only on the side and not my real job.
SO content at 48 now that I accepted that but it took ONE MORE hit last year to finally wake me up.
better now than 68.
I know we’re supposed to look down on all non-math/science degrees and people who “follow their dreams” here but Mike Rowe parlayed a Communications degree and following his dreams into a pretty decent career.
Fascinating read. Some thoughts.
1. American Idol. I was always amazed at how stunned the show’s losers were. I have NEVER EVER expected fabulous, dream-like success in a dream field to fall into my lap, and I wonder what kind of person is AMAZED that he or she is not the next Taylor Swift or Frank Sinatra.
2. The septic tank story was good, but you ABSOLUTELY KNEW it would end in a crude, scatological reference that makes 14 year old boys the world over bust out in uncontrolled laughter. Cheap and unnecessary.
3. The trades. The problem with the trades is this: 90% of them don’t pay a damn thing, UNLESS you are an entrepreneur and start your own gig. I’d give my left arm to leave this scummy little cube and go into the trades, but I am not an entrepreneur (they are rare and special people) and if I went into the trades, I’d soon be reduced to eating grubs that I hunted down, naked, in the forest.
Excellent advice!
Thanks for the post.
I have several young people in my life that will benefit from reading this article.
I hope some of them payed attention, probably the first time anyone has told them the truth about REAL life!
“...a sconce I had made in wood-shop that looked like a paramecium...”
</smile>
But if you really, really,really, really,really, really,really, really,really, really, really believe, won’t it come true? That’s what they teach in school these days.
yes but...... American girls are trained since birth that the purpose of existence is to make a difference. They go to college and major in some current fad and then learn they are not really required, not needed, in fact shunned. They can’t follow their passion and make the dreamed of difference.
An example is to study to become an “environmentalist” only to graduate and find the only job available is to drive a small van around collecting water samples drawn for testing. McDonald’s pays better
“I looked around to see where everyone else was headed,” he said, “And then I went the opposite way.”
This is the MOST valuable bit of gems in this wisdom.
I’m thinking with a Trump Presidency, knowledge in Robotics maybe a wise move.
BTTT
Thanks for posting.
I met Mike Rowe once in Orlando Florida. I work at the Contemporary Resort as a convention concierge. He was speaking to a small business group and I was assigned to greet him and show him to the green room.
I was stationed outside the green room awaiting his arrival. He and his wife came up the escalator and I introduced myself and welcomed them to the Contemporary. I led them to the green room and as I reached for the door, he jumped in front of me and grabbed the handle.
It sort of startled me and I said “Hey that’s my job Mr. Rowe.” He looked me square in the eye and said “That’s what I do.”
What a guy, the real MaCoy both he and his beautiful wife.
I got to watch his presentation it was excellent and very funny. The attendees loved it.
Ah, reality. Such a refreshing drink once you get past the serious bite. Such a simple and elegant message for a world full of hope and change and the inequality of incomes and outcomes.
Thanks for the post. Isn’t it amazing that for every clear, unadorned message, we are buried by an avalanche of dreck?
Good sentiments, but with one caveat: the industry he applied to achieving his misguided dream was not wasted. The self-discipline and practical application he taught himself are indispensable in all endeavors.
BFL, great thread, thanks for posting.
Ping.
Too late. They’re already buried in student loan debt.
Many entrepreneurs have said “find the biggest mess and clean it up. The world offers a never-ending supply of messes”. I think Mike Rowe would agree with that advice.
I see this with my own kids and their friends. They are told by the brain-dead, reactionary “educators” to follow their passion - but for most, their “passion” is sleeping, watching TV or texting on their phone.
So I push them to develop their discipline first. Be good at whatever you do, learn what makes you excel in it, and be responsible and serve people.
Once they find they are skilled, or can teach others, or are sought out for their ability, they suddenly become “passionate.”