7 Reasons Why You Will Never Do Anything Amazing With Your Life

[illphillip]

Meh, indeed.  It felt very condescending, repetitive of lessons taught by others, and not fully inclusive.  In the intro it references things equivalent to jumping off a cliff and then learning to fly...as if that works for everybody.  No mention of those who fail to fly and plummet to their death.  Those who quit their stable jobs and invested all their savings in poorly thought of inventions or careers they most likely wouldn't be successful at.  Those that moved to New York or Hollywood at 18-yrs old to be the next big thing, only to end up serving coffee at a local diner/waitressing at Denny's.  I get the point that's trying to be made here, but the [explicitive deleted] does the guy think he is?  What gives him the right to judge people?  Say what they can and can't do?  Also, why does he think you can't do amazing things because of these reasons?  What constitutes amazing to him?  I can think of numerous people who the general populous who consider amazing and much of them falling under more than 3 of the characteristics; trumping his message to some extent.

Take for example Lebron James.  I think we'd all say he's done some amazing things.  Now let's look at the list...

1. Hasn't failed enough?  No.  Dude has basically been crowned the GOAT, equal to Michael Jordan and doesn't come close to the amount of failures MJ had in his career.

2. Cares what people think of him?  Absolutely.  Definitely can't take being viewed as the villain (see aftermath of "the Decision").  But yet he's still top of the league. 

In terms of #1, you could argue that his failures in Cleveland and losing the Finals to the Mavs led him to be the truly dominant player his is now.

And with #2, if he cared what people thought, would he have even left Cleveland.

These aren't hard + fast rules. I'm sure it's easy to find exceptions, epecially, as you mentioned, a physical specimen like Lebron or Floyd etc.

But even those guys have failures that drive them.

Thought the article made some good points though.

 

[suberzat1]

I want to read more, hard to find something that holds my attention. Liked Phil jacksons 6 rings tho

Added to my wish list

 

[KOTA's Friend]

Of all people to use as an example he chooses one of the most athletic humans to walk the planet as if everyone in life possesses his physical ability.

Dude, I chose him specifically to make my point. Yeah not everyone has his athletic ability, but we're all unique and many ppl have various characteristics of themselves making this entire list trivial. Some ppl are rich, some are multi-talented, some are attractive, etc. A whole lot of factors go into persons accomplishing amazing things. This 7 point list isn't going to define them.

 

[6 Rings G.O.A.T.]

Will read later..

 

[trynafeelmink]

That truth of having the safety net around you is so real... I have money and i could invest in starting something but their's always that what if in the back of my mind and i'm trying to make steps towards it.

 

[tr1ll]

Clearly, #7 is the truth.

 

[ICEBERGSLIM]

ridiculous article.. I see way too many of these type of lists that give extremely generic advice and really just say stuff that sounds  good but really means nothing. "jump off the cliff and learn to fly".. **** outta here b, I don't need some blogger telling me about the real world 

 

[calikev34]

****** writing style

Larry Smith TED Talk was much better

 

[niquefreak94]

ridiculous article.. I see way too many of these type of lists that give extremely generic advice and really just say stuff that sounds  good but really means nothing. "jump off the cliff and learn to fly".. **** outta here b, I don't need some blogger telling me about the real world 

 

[trynafeelmink]

I think these kind of articles make people upset because they are packed with truth. This one in particular did come off a lil on the "i'm better than you side" which is a fault of the writer but if we get down to what was stated is it really negative at all?

CLEARLY a huge portion of the world base their happiness & their success on societies standard. IT's help monetarily but it doesn't advance culture & it doesn't create new ideas.

Also that Lebron comparison is ridiculous, It's not as if Lebron was born on Earth the Elite athlete he has become he put in work, Do you know how many times he has probably failed on making a shot, completing a drill, completing a workout etc etc?. Rather then saying enough is enough he pushed himself further & further.

You don't think Lebron was spending hours upon hours in the Gym during highschool while the average teen is playing X-Box or going to a movie? He knew that him working to that extent would take him to new levels and fastforward ten years it's obvious that it did.

 

[niquefreak94]

I think these kind of articles make people upset because they are packed with truth. This one in particular did come off a lil on the "i'm better than you side" which is a fault of the writer but if we get down to what was stated is it really negative at all?

CLEARLY a huge portion of the world base their happiness & their success on societies standard. IT's help monetarily but it doesn't advance culture & it doesn't create new ideas.

this **** ain't "packed with truth" I like to read books like this...that actually are packed w/ truth. Like Mastery. I really liked that book. But IMHO this article is filled with a whole bunch of nothing.

 

[trynafeelmink]

How so? all i really got from the article is to believe in yourself and invest in yourself along with the time necessary for your craft. People don't do that because they are afraid to fail or afraid of being judged about what there doing.

This is why you go to work and see so many people unhappy and complaining because they never took a chance at what they wanted and instead of pursuing they took the safe route throughout life and are pretty much stuck there.

I'm not saying this is gospel or 100% truth but their is several truths in this small article.

 

[rustlenomics]

this dude has obviously never experienced the satisfaction of tittie smashing and busting in a girls face.

or having sex everywhere with a big booty big titty princess, i wouldnt change my life for anything.

edit: just read this and it does not apply to me.

seems like it applies to most of this site that were either raised by the huxtables or those dudes that always show off their parents money.

 

[jking0821]

you guys take things way too seriously and personally...it was a good read thanks op repped

 

[trynafeelmink]

I wonder how things would turn out if society and schools really made an effort to specialize programs in childrens natural abilities

 

[miniojw]

I'm trying believe me, I'm am trying.

 

[trynafeelmink]

^

Yea this article isn't the reason why ive been trying to change my ways but it's come in a time where i'm reevaluating my life and my habits. I knew since HS that following an everyday 9-5 life wasn't for me, but i am also someone who plays it sometimes a lil too careful when it comes to spending money to make money. That is something i'm trying to grow out of, and just gaining full confidence to back the ventures i'm interested in.

 

[lnw malandro]

GREAT ARTICLE OP!!!!!!!

 

[al audi]

^

Yea this article isn't the reason why ive been trying to change my ways but it's come in a time where i'm reevaluating my life and my habits. I knew since HS that following an everyday 9-5 life wasn't for me, but i am also someone who plays it sometimes a lil too careful when it comes to spending money to make money. That is something i'm trying to grow out of, and just gaining full confidence to back the ventures i'm interested in.

im right with you man

 

[triple homicide]

Great article.

I call this "tough love" writing and it gets your fire blazing. I love it.

But, truth is, most people can't handle that type of style. Thats just how it is.

 

[pianoman52]

This Sheldon written all over it.

 

[trynafeelmink]

Great article.

I call this "tough love" writing and it gets your fire blazing. I love it.

But, truth is, most people can't handle that type of style. Thats just how it is.

truth It's a humbling experience to for some to recognize their flaws

 

[suprduperfly]

No lie, I've been slacking on Japanese and C++.

As for most of everyone else, not reading or believing reading is stupid or a waste of time never ceases to amaze me.
It doesn't matter what race, age, sexual orientation, or creed, most people do not like to read. I think that's sad.

I know people who refuse to watch foreign movies because they have to read subtitles. If there is a review of a movie, game, or some other physical product, it has to be a video review only. Written reviews aren't even considered.

It's my personal belief the love of reading has to start at home with Parents taking initiative to read to their children before bed or some other consistent schedule.
I find those who don't like to read were never read to as a child on a consistent basis.

It becomes a Catch 22, because if you hate to read, as time goes by the material you must read ( lease documents, contracts etc.) will become more challenging as you get older.
This results in individuals to proud or stubborn or both to start reading books again.
Then these people flip out when there's a misunderstanding because they don't read the fine print or understand a document they signed.
Use it or lose it.

If your a parent , please read to your children.

 

[wayniac211]

Needed this.. Good look OP!!

 

[trynafeelmink]

Another article that focuses on people not doing what they really want to pursue

http://four-pins.com/life/job-sucks/

Panic over decimals in the unemployment rate. Feeling superior to homeless people on the train. Insurmountable college debt. All for what? Taking a million smoke breaks to avoid doing any work? Extra-long lunches for the same reason? We watch people become legitimately famous the Courtney Stodden way, then go to some ******* office to rot away. Why do you think some of the best art is about the never-ending droll of existence? It's enough to make you do drugs every weekend so you can momentarily forget just how much of your life is dedicated to amassing someone else's fortune. And yet we return day after day, in a futile attempt to amass our own.

And damn, if you keep grinding, sure, the money does get better. You can go from an unpaid internship to barely being able to cover your rent with a month’s worth of checks to having rent only take up, like, maybe 20% of one. And that's nice and you get to flourish and buy expensive denim and lease a luxury vehicle and take your girlfriend to $400 dinners and only half flinch when the check comes. But that's never really enough.

You stay at your job because you keep convincing yourself that the pay and the perks that come with it should satisfy you, and, even if they don't, how dare you be such an ungrateful bastard and complain about the fact that you lead a secure lifestyle with guaranteed income while millions of those less fortunate than you pine for an existence that remotely approaches yours. But as secure as this lifestyle may be, it's not natural. It wasn’t always this way for mankind.

We thrive on the hunt and the fight or flight mechanism that slowly erodes the longer we become chained to a desk. An acknowledgement of privilege doesn't eradicate our dissatisfaction. None of that can kill the primal pulse within us that aches for something more. Something greater. A purpose that can never be fulfilled in a swivel chair, staring at a monitor. You spent all of those ******* years in school to do more than this. And the people doing more are constantly shoved in your face. Young Thug doesn't give a **** about societal constructs and now he's BFF with Birdman and an impending multimillionaire. Mark Zuckerberg said **** the system and now he's the youngest billionaire ever because he invented some stupid site that you deleted your profile off of four years ago. You're as smart and talented and goddamn instinctive as any of those *************, but here you are, in the office, eating snacks, getting fat like the rest of the country, being boring, sucking and having the goddamn life sucked out of you.

Your parents did this very same ******** so that you could have greater opportunities and go be on the cover of magazines or in commercials and say some **** about how awesome you are, but instead you just make those magazines and commercials and put other humans who are your equal up on a pedestal and then brag about your life that secretly sucks to a few thousand followers in order to validate yourself. But the reality is: You're not ****, and you know it. And it's confirmed every time you walk into that office for another awful day of helping someone who is the **** further distance themselves from plebeians like you.

What are you actually producing? What are you actually experiencing?
Every day you dream of throwing caution to the wind and saying **** everything and making that movie or building that app or painting that canvas or whatever the **** your dream is, but it's distorted by the fact that, like so many other ************* following their "dreams," you might just be a talentless hack who is clogging up the thoroughfares of society and you better hold onto your job because people are paying you a lot of money to ******** your way through meetings and pretend like you even know what the **** it is you're talking about and ignore emails on the weekend and maybe that's not so ******* bad.

But in your heart you know the miserable truth. You call your mom to tell her that you just got some stupid promotion or whatever and it's so sad that you actually, in a non-meme driven sad boys way, want to cry because, wow, she ******* gave birth to you and is so proud that you're "happy" and surviving on your own, but, damn, you actually feel like **** and know that all of this is meaningless.

And, let's be real, that "promotion" is just another excuse for The Man to give you more work and more responsibilities over something that you already don't even remotely care one iota about. The additional money that comes with it is negligible. Its purpose is to simply keep you satiated in the cog. At best, even with a substantial raise, all you're really getting is more money to buy more expensive denim and more drugs and more $400 dinners for your girlfriend. Maybe you'll even go to Europe. Big ******* deal. What are you actually producing? What are you actually experiencing?

Right now all you can think about is people asking you how your ******* weekend was a thousand times on Monday. Or how you'd rather have the elevator close on your head and decapitate you in violent fashion in front of your co-workers because that would be more entertaining than making small talk with them on the elevator one more ******* time. Or squeezing into a ******* subway car like an animal with a bunch of other stupid animals going to their stupid jobs. All you really want is to give up this ******** and, no matter how stupid your dreams may be, you're gonna follow them and starve if need be because you don't want to—and can't—look back in 10 years wondering where the **** your life even went.

Then, it's the middle of the month and you check your online banking statement and see that fat *** direct deposit check and think, "****, I could really use another one of those. The revolution can wait." And you go back to work.

Ernest Baker's gotta get it even if it's in the worst way. Follow him on Twitter here.