Whoa…
Long time, no see.
I’ve missed you, but I didn’t really have any reason to see you. It’s nice to be back though…
In your loving arms and conscience-clearing cool pool of comfort.
I’ve been on a drought. Or a block. A mental drought block. I hit a wall. I’m sure I conjure up a couple other ways to say this. I’ve been wanting to write because I like doing it, but didn’t have anything worthwhile to jot down. But then I took a look at a couple hot dogs…
I was just thinking about how good they were. And then, for some reason, my mind switched gears to it’s grilling counterpart:
The Hamburger.
And then I thought about how there’s technically not any ham in burgers. But not a lot of people call them hamburgers any more. Just burgers. Then I headed over to my friend Wikipedia’s place and asked him a little about it. He said an actual hamburger “refers to the cooked patty of ground meat by itself. The patty alone is also known as a beefburger, or burger. However, ground beef of any form is often commonly referred to as ‘hamburger.’ The word hamburger comes from Hamburg steak, which originated in the German city of Hamburg.”
Awesome. Thanks my wikifriend. I don’t care what people say, I rely on your info. You conveniently make my world a little clearer and then link me to other places I wasn’t thinking about.
And that’s it. That’s all I had about the hamburger topic.
My content is getting pretty lean. Like, 90%-fat-free lean.
(Insert drum kick here)
I was also thinking about how common it is to hear the phrase, “you can be whatever you want, as long as you put your mind to it.” I’ve come to find out that phrase is somewhat of a let down. I don’t think it’s true. Some people can never do the things they would like to be. I always wanted to play basketball with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Maybe it was just me being a kid and just dreaming. And maybe that’s not so bad. And maybe it’s a good lesson to instill in young kids. That they should set their mind to stuff they want to accomplish. But I’ve also noticed that lack of reinforcement and encouragement produces weak results. If you teach show someone how to fish, and then say, “ok, go for it,” they’re not going to learn. They’re going to remember what they thought was important and go off of that. No matter how well you teach someone, they’ll always develop bad habits if you only leave them with one lesson. Especially if you teach them a process. When you tell someone they can do whatever they put their mind to, and then not show any encouragement after that, those words aren’t effective.
I also think that some people have dreams that they can never accomplish because of their skill sets. Everyone has different skill sets. Some people want to be the Quarterback for the Denver Broncos their whole lives. But how many people can say they’ve done that? Very few. Because it requires a certain skill set. I could be the best in my league, train all summer, work as hard as I can, get accepted into a great school that puts me in the spotlight and in a position to excel, yet I don’t have the skill set to move on to the next level. And now I’ve put all this effort into being one thing, and I have nothing else to rely on, because all I did was follow my dream. I guess that’s why they say “shoot for the stars and if you fall, you’ll land in the clouds” (Thanks Kanye for putting that in your song). But am I really going to be happy with landing in the clouds? Am I going to be ok playing the minor leagues my whole career? In the developmental league? In middle-management?
I could see how frustrating it could be. You try your hardest your whole life trying to get to one point, and you land in second. And that’s where you have to be your whole life. I guess if you’re doing what your love, it doesn’t ultimately matter what level you landed on or how much you’re getting paid to do it. I guess it’s all about Risk and Reward. If you put your heart into something trying to be the best at it, but know that it’s hard to excel at, I guess you have to be mentally ready to accept failure. People who haven’t thought about failure while following their dream has never fully thought about their dream in its entirety. It truly is just a figment of your imagination if you never thought that there was not a chance that you might fail. You have to acknowledge failure to fully be prepared for success. Otherwise, you won’t know how much it means if/when you finally meet your goal. You have to be willing to be ok with second place, knowing you tried your best to be in first. And I’m sure people would say that the reward is well worth the risk.
And I’m not just talking about sports, although I think it’s a common scenario. And I think it’s because our culture puts so much emphasis on sports. You know how many Asian kids grew up watching Jordan on TV? You know how many of those Asian kids dreamed about getting into the NBA? Do you know how many of those Asian kids never grew passed 5’8″? Granted, I think most of those kids gave up that dream a while ago after they realized they couldn’t make it and became doctors or accountants or whatever Asian people become. Haha. It’s funny how you can make fun of your own culture, but as soon as you start saying crap about other races or other races start saying crap about yours, things get heated.
I said it’s not all about sports, and then I go right back to it. Haha. My bad. How about people who want to be doctors. I’m sure there are a ton of people who want to be doctors, or lawyers, or teachers, and they can’t pass an exam. The passion is there, but the skill isn’t, and it’s terrible to think that people are stepping into these positions with those two things switched. All skill, no passion. And we’re holding back these people who can’t pass a test. Granted, I’d much rather have someone work on me who knew what they were doing over someone who just wants to help and is passionate about it. You could want to become the best and greatest doctor in the world, but if you can’t fix me, I don’t want you. haha. It takes time and effort to become great at something you want to become, and a lot of people don’t put their best foot forward. But they have natural talent, so they don’t need to. They can get by easily. And then there’s the people who work their butts off, but they will never have the skill sets to become what they want to be. Some people will never get into their profession of choice solely because of one class or because they are bad at taking tests. They could know just as much, if not more than people who are completing these tests, but I guess that’s just part of the skill set that position requires…
So is it all worth it? Is it best to try and follow your dreams and be the best at it, even though you may never make it? What about all those dancers or artists or bands that are always trying to make it big, but never can. They have the passion, just not the complete skill set. And is it better to realize that? Or have someone straight out tell you that you seriously need to consider creating a fall back plan? Lauryn Hill said an amazing thing that I heard a couple of days ago talking about living your life for who you are.
“Fantasy is what people want, but reality is what they need….And I’ve just retired from the fantasy part…”
Do people who have unattainable dreams need to let go of those to land something that compliments their skill set? And what if their dream emphasizes their skill set, but they just aren’t good enough? Then what? Do you just settle with something because you can do it? Do you try to spread yourself out and become good at everything, but not great at anything, just in case your dream is never fully realized?
This is something I have a problem with. I can do a lot of things well, but not one thing great. “Jack of all trades, but a master of none.” In turn, I’m not really passionate about anything. Everything is just ok to me. People have told me that they wish they could have the skill set that I have to do the things I do. But honestly, I would trade all of my above-average mediocre-ness in order to be great at just 1 thing. It’s frustrating being second or third best at everything you do. You find out that there is always someone better than you at something. Someone’s always faster, smarter, taller, stronger, funnier, etc. I’m not an expert at anything. I’m in the minor leagues at everything I do.
Didn’t mean to toot my own horn there. Or toot any horns for that matter. I certainly never dreamed of being a horn-tooter. I think that’s just frustration coming out. I have a lack of passion for anything I do, and I have a problem with it.
Hello everyone…
My name is Kevin…
And I’m passionless….
I guess it’s all about satisfaction. Am I satisfied with where I ended up? Am I ok with who I am and how I lived my life? Did I truly follow my dream, and even though I didn’t come out number 1, did I still do what I loved my whole life? Randy Pausch, a man who led an amazing life, gave a final lecture at Carnagie Mellon University about living your dream. In his lecture, he says this…
“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”
If you follow your dreams, even for a little bit, you’ll end up learning something. You’ll know you took that chance, and as risky as it might have been, you still did it and that’s all that matters. When/if you have grandchildren, you could tell them to follow their dreams, because “that’s what grandpa did.” You don’t always have to tell them that you were on the B-squad or only made it to second-in-command.
And every now and then, someone will get lucky and actually become what they always wanted. Not to say that it’s all luck. They needed to prep and work hard, and have the proper skill set. But someone will be the Denver Broncos Quarterback. Someone will be president of Google. Someone will have made their dream a reality. And it could happen because you were the best, or with a little bit of luck. Sometimes luck happens when you’re not expecting it, but again, Dr. Pausch recites the quote,
“Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”
So follow your heart, or just play it safe? While the accountant making 6+ figures a year might say to play it safe, I’m sure John Elway would be telling me to follow my dreams. Now if I could only find where I put that dream….
A few side-notes before I go…
I realized I like to use an ellipsis a lot…
Creates dramatic pauses and emphasizes humor…
I want to start using more pictures and fun tools in my posts. Be on the look out for those in the future. Speaking of future postings, I hope to make this a regular occurrence, or at least weekly. Be on the look out for that too…
And just in general, you should probably be looking somewhere…
Also, type in “find Chuck Norris” into Google and then hit the “I’m feeling lucky” button. Fun tip I got from my mom.
Thanks as always for reading…
-Dr. Passion McDreamy
