Remember, You Are Special

Didn't get an offer into your top university? Didn't get your job of choice? let your co-workers, friends and family down? Maybe all of those people who you compare yourself to with a nicer title and LinkedIn headshot are living happier lives then you... why were they chosen instead of me? I wish I was THEM. But remember that YOU ARE SPECIAL just because you were born into this world. Everything in life is a bonus, especially tomorrow, and it's up to us to find meaning in our lives. A lifetime of suffering is still a gift that I would pick 1,000x over instead of never being born. Let's endure our short lives together so we can find the beauty in the mundane. 

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At first, I thought this was a bit corny. The reality is that none of us are truly special. There are at least 5-10 mm people out there capable of doing what we do, with similar minds, personalities, and capabilities. 

However, what I do think is extremely important is that it absolutely is up to us to find meaning in our own life. I spent a few years living with a friend who would constantly complain about work and how life was meaningless. To this day, it still frustrates me. I reached the conclusion that for him, life would continue to be meaningless because he was incapable of finding a way to make life work for him. What I mean by that is though creating strong and valuable connections, finding a job that brought him some level of joy (or at least reduced his unhappiness relative to his current poisition) and filling his life with experiences that enhanced his time on this planet. I recently realized how many people have this perspective, and it is usually those who do not take care of themselves. 

 

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"If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

Really important to learn how to be happy / comfortable with who you are without comparing yourself to others. That doesn't mean don't have goals. You need goals, but make them your goals, not goals others have for you. Took me a long time to realize this. In financial sales distribution / fin planning. Used to compare myself to many peers who were building large organizations, making millions while I was doing quite well but running more of a boutique shop. Never really scaled and used to constantly think "these guys aren't smarter, better, etc but they're making 2x-5x more than me (and I was doing pretty well - either side of 500k yr to yr). Eventually had to acknowledge that we were in the same industry, but not the same business and their income / model was no more relevant  to me than any other business in a different industry. In fact, they had more in common with a McD franchisee with 100 units than my business. I literally used to tell myself, "OK X makes 3M, but I don't want to do what he does. I also know Dr.s, authors, car dealers, home builders, realtors, Portfolio mgrs, Partners at big law, etc.  who make a couple mil but I don't want to do that either. They're not better, they're different and I know they wouldn't be as good at building / running my business. And regarding scaling, I could have but I went the other way and chose to use the income to have more free time, coach sports, travel, etc.

Learn to be happy You doing You.

 

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