# Potential



## moco82 (Jul 16, 2012)

A common theme through the ages is that one dreams big when one's young, but as a rule is brought down to earth as life goes on. How many of you fellow men experienced the opposite: finding that your actual professional success exceeds what you expected as a youth (perhaps because of humble origins, having the formative years overlap with a generally pessimistic era, etc.)?


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## John Lee (Mar 16, 2013)

I fit the cliche. I started out in a field I was very passionate about but there was no money. Eventually I changed careers to something "practical." Now I'm finally starting to hit my stride in it and seeing that maybe I can be very good at what I do, but I never reach the kind of peace, sureness of purpose, happiness, etc. that I did in my old pursuit.


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## moco82 (Jul 16, 2012)

John Lee, did the "practical" pursuit yield the practical income, or was it a disappointment?


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## John Lee (Mar 16, 2013)

So far pretty good. I'm not rollin in it yet, but I make enough that my wife could take a year and a half off to be with our baby, and that felt pretty good. And I have a lot of opportunity to increase my income if I do well.


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## moco82 (Jul 16, 2012)

I guess we can all pursue our passions after we retire.

The reason I started the thread was that I was reminiscing to only a few years ago, when I thought that I couldn't make the money I make now, if not ever then not until much older. That led me to wonder whether there can be such a thing as too much realism, and whether I could have made the leap much earlier.


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## whitehawk (Aug 14, 2012)

Mines been coming down to earth with a thud. My marriage break ups guaranteed that because man oh man. l have to do whatever the hell l have to do right now to meet all out debts and crap.
My jobs pretty good but it's no way what was born to do.
l was a painter for 12 yrs ,, that's what l was born to do , art . But l chose a stupid time to star , just got married and stuff. It sent us broke .
l miss art but not the art world one bit , not the artists head one bit either.
My job nows nothing flash but it's a lot better than some in that l get to be my own boss , work from home , and in a good yr l get good money and only work a wk or two a mth.
Bad yr like this one , not nice . Short all the time , can't make the bills .

But really , strangely , l do like being in the real world again , an ordinary job , people , usually a pretty good income.

Art itself was my dream job but the artists life and world , too surreal . lt's nice to be the typical again.
Do wish l was doing something that used what l can do better though , commercial artist or something - art but in the real world and pays .


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## RandomDude (Dec 18, 2010)

Well, guess I experienced the opposite really, when I was a kid, I always wondered why I could figure out things other kids couldn't, but I always thought I was weird. During my teens, I always wondered how I managed to stay out of jail until the very end and was always a few steps ahead of the law, that there must be some divine looking out for me. During my early adulthood though I thought that I would never amount to anything without an education and a record.

My daughter changed that however, and I was determined to give her a childhood I never had so I went all out for a career, just to give it my best shot, worked 84 hours a week, rose to leadership/management and ended up taking over and expanding a business. Quite honestly I never knew I had it in me.

Guess there's being realistic with your goals and your abilities, don't want to overestimate yourself and what you can or can't do. But then there's also being negative and underestimating yourself.


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## moco82 (Jul 16, 2012)

Becoming a father was my jolt as well. I never knew I could work the long hours and make enough money to be the sole breadwinner for a while. It didn't seem in the realm of possibilities just a few years prior.


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## RandomDude (Dec 18, 2010)

Aye, it's almost like nature kicks in with fatherly instincts or some such.


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## whitehawk (Aug 14, 2012)

Yep , that's when l really began hating myself for being an artist to. just wasn't making enough and things got fugly so l got out of it .


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## John Lee (Mar 16, 2013)

Yeah, I changed careers when I wanted to be a father, and I stepped it up a lot once I became one. I didn't take the absolute highest paying job I could get because I wanted to leave some time to see my family, but I make decent money and I still work pretty hard (50-60 hrs most weeks).


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## SimplyAmorous (Nov 25, 2009)

moco82 said:


> A common theme through the ages is that* one dreams big when one's young, but as a rule is brought down to earth as life goes on*. *How many of you fellow men experienced the opposite: finding that your actual professional success exceeds what you expected as a youth *(perhaps because of humble origins, having the formative years overlap with a generally pessimistic era, etc.)?


I am not a guy but let me answer this... we were NOT big dreamers in the idea of *financial success*, we have always kept our feet on the ground....in our youth, we saved, planned, and were very very responsible with our money...would do almost all of our house/car projects ourselves -in order to keep saving ..... BECAUSE we tended to take a more pessimistic view on ....

Life is not a bowl of cherries...SH** happens... and we wanted to be prepared and at least realize our lower class dreams....and I feel strongly because we have lived like this... that this has afforded us to exceed every dream we ever had... we both take the view...don't expect TOO MUCH, that way you are not "let down" or headed for a FALL. Frankly, it's when I DO get my hopes up too high -I end up frustrated and feel more like a loser when it doesn't pan out... I learned that a long long time ago.. and adjusted my thinking. 

*1*. We hoped for 3 kids, ended up with 6 (and yes, we are happy about that!)

*2.* We hoped for a Run down house we could afford in the country, away from the road.....a good 3 acres of land would have satisfied, we ended up with a beautiful piece of property...50 acres, an old re-done farmhouse/ 3 stall garage...everyone who comes down our driveway tells us how they'd love a place like ours...except they might not care for our driveway in the winter...it always claims victims- every year ! 

*3*. Always thought we'd have to struggle in lower paying jobs..since neither of us went to college (he did get a certificate for Computer college but never got anything out of it)...HE went on to get one of the higher paying blue collar jobs in our area...men are constantly asking... "Can you get me in there?". 

And we are very very thankful for all of this...and even being Lower income (due to family size)...in comparison to many, we feel we have it all...

We did have high expectations in love, commitment, wanting to raise a family / older fashioned values.....we're both geared this way....so this played out nicely for us ...and through the struggles .... having each other ...made it all seem "lighter"...as our dreams slowly came to be.


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## lifeistooshort (Mar 17, 2013)

I went back to school while pregnant with my second at 29, studied a hard science, and at 35 made a complete career change to something very lucrative that just happens to be really cool. I'm almost 40 now and am still developing, but it's going great and I love it!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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