Window Manager Comments
Yup. I know the feeling. Just yesterday, the little (multi-billion) company that a university friend of mine now runs was in the news having made another multi-billion dollar property acquisition. Good luck, bad luck? Choices? Sometimes I try rationalizing circumstances by convincing myself I've got miles to go before the race is over and anything can happen. Other times, I try to think about the breadth of experiences and why each choice was not irrational at the time. Sometimes . . . None of it makes any sense, so we just keep rolling.
It's only a failure if you let it be one. How many of your classmates are Large Mammals in the TTLB Ecosystem? Or have museum-quality backyards? Or are married to Mrs. Director?
If you are happy where you are, does it matter?
Every HS friend of mine owns a house. I rent. Every HS friend of mine makes more money than me.
BUT, my startup (5 years old now) just did it's third round of funding. We were extremely close to a flame out 4 months ago. At the time, as well as now, I am so glad I took the chance. Yeah, I may be broke as hell and in debt to my eyeballs, but I'm not going to look back on my life and wonder "wtf, why didn't I have some balls to take a chance?"
Besides, like the other poster said you're a "Large Mammal" - fame baby!
Yep, you're a failure.
But you have a rad blog and he doesn't.
And what if he was a Sr VP with Enron, WorldCom or... being in Sr Management or even a C-level doesn't insulate you from potentially career altering pitfalls.
You're just re-starting your climb up the money and prestige mountain, that's all.
It ain't over 'til you say it's over... or something like that.
No; Men are not measured by our jobs, our titles, our corner offices.
Sez me, anyway.
This is something that I do battle with a lot. When the most obvious measure of a man is the location of his house, brand of his car, and size of his bank account, there is certainly a strong temptation to try and maximize those things. However, studies show that happiness is a funny thing. You adapt quickly to improved conditions, and to get the same bump in happiness from going from $10k/yr to $100k/yr you must then go to $1M and so forth. Furthermore, the surest predictors of a miserable person are divorce and (sorry Mitch) unemployment. Since you can't take the car or house or cash with you, happiness is what we should truly seek to maximize in life. You do that by doing something you love, with someone you love. You blog, and you have Mrs. Director, I'd say you're all set.
Let's hear it for Jim! Nice comment about Ms. Director. Let's not foget to add that one of the most important things for Director Mitch to be proud of is that he is a phenomenal father and husband. That counts for a lot in my book. My guess is that when a lot of those C-Levels put their head down in their pillow at night they do not do so with the same amount of peace about who they are as a person as Director Mitch does. Good things happen to good people. All in time.
I think alot of y'all were focusing on the money, but I'm guessing that the money isn't the disappointing part.
It's more about living up to your own goals and being as successful as you think you should be, given the gifts God has given you.
similar thing happened here. Life seemed good, then my college roommate called me up a couple of months ago to say that he was retiring and moving to another country to live an oceanfront life of leisure. Suddenly the exact same life didn't seem so good. At 40 he already has enough money to live the rest of his life, but I have to get up and go to work tomorrow morning. Of course when I get home from work I'll play catch with my son, then take him to his little league baseball game, then we'll stop at Dairy Queen on the way home...
OK, I feel better.
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