where's the disconnect and when is it occuring?

if you ask any kid (or think back to when you were little) what he wants to be when he grows up, you will get an assortment of answers. the underlying connection between all responses is that a certain joy or feeling of success (i.e. - wealth or prestige) is implicit with the desired career. before continuing, i want to note that (and i would put money on this) all responses will represent career fields and not simply jobs. so, where is the disconnect in making sure we prepare our young people to make sure they position themselves to be successful and realize these career goals? or, is the whole exercise of asking them to think about this question in the first place purposeless? (do kids even get asked this question anymore???.....that's a really scary thought. not sure i want to know the answer to that one)

my point is not to get into a blame game, but i wanted to spark some thought into thinking about when these aspirations go out the window for people. because really, nobody says i want to be a when i grow up. the "american dream (or gangster)" pushes us towards attaining a certain level of income to be able to provide for our families and "escape" any poverty or negativity we experienced growing up. where do happiness and fulfillment come into this equation? do they take a backseat if i can make more money being miserable?

i know i am all over the place here (and definitely not finished). let me think a little bit more about where i want to go and i will come back and finish this post.

"...by any means necessary"

just get the job done

this sounds like a good mantra for the week. don't have much else to share today. maybe i will have better luck tomorrow. i'd also like to get some jokes/humor back into my blog posts, but i've been struggling lately. maybe that will come back in the coming days as well.

regaining my focus

there's a great deal that can be said about maintaining focus and keeping objectives in mind. many times in our lives, it is very easy to lose track of our goals or our purpose for the sake of selfish, "right now" rewards. the harsh reality of it all is that our mission to achieve our goals is not always going to be easy or necessarily enjoyable, but a journey we must make nonetheless. there can be no priority inversion of "pleasure" over getting the job done. we must not allow our concentration to be disrupted.

life is full of differences from what we are accustomed to, and we must understand that the differences we perceive are all part of the maturation process to becoming the successful individuals everyone wants to become. we must also take these differences in stride for what they are---just that---differences. there is no "good" or "bad", "positive" or "negative" associated with them. this attempt at a qualitative analysis prevents us from reaping the many benefits from experiencing new things. to quote a good friend, it's an "exercise of futility" (thanks mhy).

i am still trying to digest this all myself and am definitely typing this with less than 100% conviction/application to my own life/experiences. it does make perfect sense though, and i see the need to keep such an outlook in constant rotation among my day-to-day thoughts. in the midst of such confusion and uncertainty, it is at least comforting to know that you can at least take a step back and assess the situation/circumstances at face value for what they are and go from there. no............you may not have the answer, but at least you know what the question is.

the fear of being average/ordinary

i am not sure that "fear" is the right word to describe this feeling, but it is the best i can think of at the moment. the feeling is simply a strong willingness not to blend into the crowd, not to be a person people meet and immediately forget.....you know.......not to be just like everyone else. i really don't know where this feeling came from or when it kind of became the driving force for my wanting to excel. if i had to take a guess, it would probably be from my involvement in sports from the time i could walk. either way, i learned how to compete at a very early age. i try imagining living life without this fierce nature, but i find it extremely hard. i cannot get past the notion of being "ok" with just doing enough to get by. where's the motivation to do anything then? that's about as far as i can get. it all breaks down after that. i play with this thought a lot, and i have had a number of conversations growing up with people telling me that i can't be the best at everything. my response as a youth was always "why not." i never got a "good" (satisfactory) answer to this question. it was always the "because" answer adults give when they don't know what to say or some variation of an adult trying to convince you by saying a bunch of nothing.

as brad pitt said in troy, "...that is why no one will remember your name"

p.s. - interesting article