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**86GlSqSK** · 08-04-2007, 03:23 AM

From what I've observed in life, most people don't "work their asses" off. Furthermore, most people don't put themselves in a position to better their situation. My ex works as a server, and I watched her hang out with an awful lot of "lifers" that would work their 10 hour shifts, bitch about how horrible they had it, and then go out to dinner/drinks every night and spend most of what they had earned. When people like that would bitch in front of me about how they could never "get ahead" in spite of all of their "hard work", it would take some restraint not to roll my eyes at them.

Most people, i. e. the middle class in the US, do work like hell, because they don't put themselves in a position to better their situation.

And the only way to better one's (financial) standing in life is to become a succesful entrepreneur, and that means taking risks.

Most Americans don't become enterpreneurs because they're tremendously risk averse. People who don't make it very far financially do not understand the concept of calculated risk. To them, risk is just bad.

The standard American model of life is. . .be born, go to school, then do one of 5 things. . .

1) Go to college, then get a college level job
2) Join the Armed Forces, then stay there
3) Work a menial job (i. e. McDonald's, dept. store) then work your way up to manager
4) Get a government job thru connections, then keep working at it and retire with a nice pension
5) Become nurse, med secretary, or some other health care assistant

Note that none of the above 5 involves any financial risk (#2, obviously, involves a risk to your life, nevertheless).

What I believe--and this is strictly my opinion so don't yell at me--is that kids should take risks, i. e. chase their dreams, when the're young.

Don't believe me. Here are some names. . .

Michael Dell
Bill Gates
Justin Frankel
Marshal Mathers
Britney Spears
Marc Andreessen

Chasing one's dreams does not entail jumping in the pool unprepared. Hard work and intense preparation is certainly needed.

However, most kids never try to fulfill their childhood dreams because they defeat themselves mentally early on and/or succomb to the low risk path their parents want them to follow (presumably because that's how their parents made it), and consequently, opt for a line of work where they can predictably stay employed (so long as they don't do anything tremendously stupid) and predictably advance.

08-04-2007, 03:23 AM	#29
86GlSqSK Join Date Nov 2005 Posts 396 Senior Member	From what I've observed in life, most people don't "work their asses" off. Furthermore, most people don't put themselves in a position to better their situation. My ex works as a server, and I watched her hang out with an awful lot of "lifers" that would work their 10 hour shifts, bitch about how horrible they had it, and then go out to dinner/drinks every night and spend most of what they had earned. When people like that would bitch in front of me about how they could never "get ahead" in spite of all of their "hard work", it would take some restraint not to roll my eyes at them. Most people, i. e. the middle class in the US, do work like hell, because they don't put themselves in a position to better their situation. And the only way to better one's (financial) standing in life is to become a succesful entrepreneur, and that means taking risks. Most Americans don't become enterpreneurs because they're tremendously risk averse. People who don't make it very far financially do not understand the concept of calculated risk. To them, risk is just bad. The standard American model of life is. . .be born, go to school, then do one of 5 things. . . 1) Go to college, then get a college level job 2) Join the Armed Forces, then stay there 3) Work a menial job (i. e. McDonald's, dept. store) then work your way up to manager 4) Get a government job thru connections, then keep working at it and retire with a nice pension 5) Become nurse, med secretary, or some other health care assistant Note that none of the above 5 involves any financial risk (#2, obviously, involves a risk to your life, nevertheless). What I believe--and this is strictly my opinion so don't yell at me--is that kids should take risks, i. e. chase their dreams, when the're young. Don't believe me. Here are some names. . . Michael Dell Bill Gates Justin Frankel Marshal Mathers Britney Spears Marc Andreessen Chasing one's dreams does not entail jumping in the pool unprepared. Hard work and intense preparation is certainly needed. However, most kids never try to fulfill their childhood dreams because they defeat themselves mentally early on and/or succomb to the low risk path their parents want them to follow (presumably because that's how their parents made it), and consequently, opt for a line of work where they can predictably stay employed (so long as they don't do anything tremendously stupid) and predictably advance.
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