JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Brian Austin Whitney Blog Daily Distractions 12-16-2017 (Best Advice EVER)

Hi Folks,

I just found a 5 minute piece of advice that may be the best I have seen when it comes to "following your passion" and pursuing meaningful work. I can't wait to hear your thoughts!

Mike Rowe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVEuPmVAb8o


Brian

LOL..I love the sewer worker who realized one day he was "passionate about other people's crap.."

These are just random thoughts ..

There's a lot of truth in what Mike Rowe said, but just like he was a young adult who made mistakes and followed his passion down blind alleys, it seems like that's what being young and figuring out who we are is all about. I mean it's great if we know at the age of nine, fifteen or twenty what we want to do with our lives (and then have the talent and know-how to make it happen) but it does take several years to absolutely know for sure that one's passion and one's livelihood will under no circumstances ever dovetail.

I think there's quite a few more people that are stuck with jobs they are good at but don't enjoy than folks who love doing something they truly suck at. Sure, some people build a fortress around themselves and lack the Know Thyself gene. I DO think a high IQ in regards one's ability to be self-critical..though..this can actually work to amplify a modest amount of talent. You at least know when you are doing poorly and can then try to do something about it. And if you do enough 'things-about-it' --this can rival talent, Especially talent that could care less, lol.

And we all have different inner algorithms in regards how much value we place on 'what we're good at' vs. 'what we love.' Some folks could care less about money and just want to do what they love.

I think the best test for one's "passion" is to attempt to live without it and to actually try a bunch of other things. Like Rowe said, maybe we discover something we're both good at AND can be passionate about. But sometimes we end up back with what we love to do. It just outweighs eveything else.

MIke

I think kids should have a reasonable plan for their college education. They should start by removing the arts (aside from perhaps technical training with career paths), social issues, pop culture, and the plethora of other obviously unemployable degrees where even if you were to get a job in that field it would never give you return on investment for your college costs and the time wasted there. I no longer recommend kids go to college unless they are confident in their path and likely return on investment which includes tuition, living expenses, books, other fees as well as likely interest to be paid on the loans versus pursuing the same or similar career paths using an alternative pathway to get started. 4 (or more for advanced degrees) years of potential work and income, hands on experiences, networking and mentors in the field of interest versus idiot college professors or worse grad assistants who have no actual experience and no knowledge beyond theory rather than practical hands on success to prove their curriculum, ideas and methods. Compare that to becoming an apprentice in the field or fields of your choice for 4 years where you may or may not make a living, but at worst the education is free. it's real world, hands on and you get to experience what the early stage of that career might entail as well as observe the operation and potential pathways for the future. You also gain confidence and savvy working around and with professionals, practicing your own skills, demeanor, communication abilities and likely also discover your weaknesses and opportunities to improve. With the right mentors, you can begin shoring those things up immediately, 4 or more years earlier than your peers, giving you a giant head start over them. Bottom line is after 4 years of your peers getting deeply in debt, meeting next to no one in your field, forming little hands on skills and work history, and failing to fail, which is the best teacher, because the university route doesn't give you a chance to do anything for real. Plus, if you find you dislike the work, you may discover other related options within that or similar industries, or you can simply shift gears to something else entirely. In fact, you can experiment virtually risk free in many different fields, take wild chances pushing yourself in new directions and frankly have a great time doing it. The only downside is missing the college social fun, but it is highly overrated most of the time.

After 4 years, you'll either have a lot of practical experience, contacts in that industry, a positive reputation if you have worked hard, you'll be polished because you will have gotten past most rookie mistakes with little negative impact because you won't be in peril financially should you mess up so badly you lose a job like you would if you graduated and had loans to repay. And, most importantly, you won't be stuck in a job you hate because you got the wrong degree but now have to earn at a level that will keep you out of bankruptcy.

I think you should pursue things that interest you in your spare time. I ran JPF while working full time for a decade before I focused entirely on it for the past 2 decades. I also played in bands and wrote over 2000 songs in a 10 year window. I wrote, directed, produced and acted in 2 plays of my own and 23 others. I worked in radio at the #1 radio station in Indianapolis learning all about the business as an volunteer intern while also employed as a mid level manager at a major corporation. Because I was more qualified than anyone else at the station in most things (much to my surprise) I had the run of the place and was representing the station at live major concerts, taking care of VIP's and artist relations with record labels and top artists of the day, doing production, writing the news, putting together audio commercials and promos (sadly, I wasn't very good at the technical aspects to be honest but I learned a great deal anyway), I learned all about how songs were chosen for airplay, I learned a lot of dirty secrets of the business and because I was a volunteer, I came and went when I wanted, and got to learn about what was interesting and avoid doing the stuff I didn't like. They had a high functioning mature person they could trust for free and I got a complete master class in how a major radio station was run from Profit and Loss, to Sales and Marketing, to News and Production to On Air Programming and mixing it up with high paid on air talent. The only thing I didn't get to do was host a show, but I did play characters, did call ins, made tons of public appearances and it was a blast. I also learned that it could be a sleazy business when it came to actually playing music which served me well running JPF and talking to people in all areas of the industry from actual first hand knowledge and experience, all without taking a class or having to take a terrible paying slave job getting coffee for everyone all day like most interns. They kind of thought I was crazy because I made so much more money at my "day" job and they didn't understand they 100+ hour work weeks I was putting in sometime between the day job and working there, but it was my passion. It even helped me in my day job because I was doing some high level stuff at the radio station that I hadn't been able to do at the day job, but once they knew I had those skills (I didn't tell them I had done it until I had decided to stop) they had me doing activities there that no one else at my level were allowed to do. I could go on, but you get the idea. I would work 8 to 6pm at the day job, then drive 2 hours to practice with my band, practice to for 3 hours, then drive 2 hours home, getting about 4-5 hours of sleep, but having the time of my life. I even got to take the gig that Hootie and the Blowfish gave up at the Cubby Bear in Chicago the night they got on Letterman with only hours notice before they got on the jet. All this to say I pursued my various "passions" outside of my bill paying job until I found something (or in my case CREATED something) that I was passionate about and which I could survive doing full time (which for me was always 100 hours a week or more and until health interceded, I kept doing).

I think his advice is amazing and needed. He didn't address the College portion, but I think it is part of it. Go out and DO something, don't sit back having some unqualified series of people theorizing on it, often with inherent biases and outdated ideas and viewpoints. And don't put your eggs in the basket of your passion and until you have safely proven those passions can pay your bills (and preferably before you have gotten in debt or started your family with kids to consider).

Brian

There's truth in the last line: "Never follow your passion but bring it with you".
I am dubious about the word success when associated with monetary reward, though.

Vic

It sounds like it could be great advice for the future adults of the world but would never have worked for me back in the 60s. Since the 6th grade, all I wanted to be when I grew up was an archaeologist/singer/songwriter. I spent my babysitting money on books like Tombs, Temples and Hieroglyphs and The World of Rod McKuen. My blue parents could not afford to pay for 4 years of college so I worked my ass off to pursue my passions and earned small but sufficient scholarships, and between them and working part-time and entertaining my dorm room mates for free with acoustic versions of Rocky Raccoon, I got my degree in Anthropology (minor in Sociology). That led to a short marriage and even shorter but informative career as an assistant to the Cumberland County Clerk which naturally led to a very long second marriage and even longer second career as an engineering drafter (draftsman to all you old fashioned folks), all the while keeping alive my dream of songwriting, the latter being the only thing I've done consistently, off and on, for over 50 years.

I say Rowe's advice would not have worked for me because, had I not followed my very impractical passion, albeit via a very circuitous route, I would never have arrived at this point in time, at my ultimate happy place with the love of my life, still writing from my heart and never regretting the wrong turns because in the end, they were all right turns.

Just my take.

Ricki

I think you DID follow his point Ricki. If you had insisted on doing music as the only job you were willing to do, you wouldn't have what you have. Additionally, you got out pf the wrong marriage and into the right one, the exact same principle. Obviously you had a passion for the first spouse but you moved on to the one that worked out for you instead of insisting on staying together with the first. In fact, your whole pathway followed his example.

I think he speaks the truth......everyone has to be able to provide for themselves and put a roof over their head, buy food and the other necessities of life. Once that part is taken care of, one can contemplate one's navel, write songs, attempt to make it as a musician, artist, writer, etc. But don't depend on a passion for something that nobody needs or wants (or is willing to pay for) until the basics of life are secured. For every Clapton or Picasso, there are 100,000 starving artists who will never make more than a pittance from their passion. And what's more, turning a passion into a career is a good way to turn the passion into "work" which everybody hates.

I don't know, Brian. I never thought about it that way. If I had been more practical, instead of wasting time with a dead end liberal arts degree, I could have gone for the engineering degree from the beginning, made the big bucks and ended up...I shudder to think! I like what he said about not following your passion but keeping it close. I guess that's where most of us are. Thankfully though, there are still artists in all fields who still go for it and bless them for their bravery...what a dull world it would be without them.

Ricki

I love Mike and maybe HE should run for President as he makes more sense than anybody I've heard in awhile. Ah Passion....lol I don't have any great answers. I'd like to see Public Ed have 11th and 12 grade like a 2 year college or trade school. That way nobody would graduate HS without some trade that they can make a living at. Somebody said if you have a job you love you will never work a day in your life. Of course not everybody is so lucky. I have a friend in the Computer Field that makes a lot of money but hates going to work every day. I remember when I was 24 and working in the Family Printing Business and really hated it. I woke up one freezing December day and the thought popped into my head that I'd rather be dead than work there one more day. I went in and told my Dad and Uncle that I was leaving and they didn't talk to me for ten years. One of the great slogans is don't quit your day job. As far as songwriting goes I have mixed emotions. I believe Music and Melody are the Universal Language for all people and don't really need words as everybody hears their own words. It touches people at a deep level in our Soul and there is nothing more wonderful and healing. People who can make music like that are a gift to all. It's funny that I was thinking this morning how great art is already out there just waiting to be discovered. I have cancer and believe that a cure is already out there and it is waiting to be discovered. SO I believe Passion of any kind whether you make a living or not is food for the Soul and I hope everybody finds that passion. Not sure if anything I said had anything to do with the topic but it just came out...God Bless.....Barry

Brian, I think most parents have some form of talk with their kids that encourages practicality over passion when it comes to career choices, except for those with hippie DNA, perhaps. But that can backfire cuz kids rebel against their parents wishes.

Maybe we should add a mandatory class to high-school studies. A psychology course that looks specifically at the power of advertising and media (cult of personality, etc.) and how they manipulate and create 'faux' passion (to be like those we admire), regardless if there's any affinity talent-wise.

While (perhaps) at the same time starting up ad campaigns that make health care, sales, construction work (and other rising job markets) as well as Trade Schools seem more sexy, lol.. I'd love to create the commercial that can find an angle on making sanitation work a glamourous prospect. This sounds silly, I know, but think about it. It's fighting fire with fire. Nah..I'm sure all that has been attempted and failed at..Still, it would be fun to see a sexy sewer worker, lol..

But I can't help keep seeing two images from "The Graduate" in my imagination: "one word, Benjamin..plastics.." and near the end of the film, Benjamin, at Elaine's wedding to someone her parent's approved of, yelling "Elaine! Elaine!!" The movie both symbolically AND literally deals with issues of "coming of age" and finding one's own way in the world..and there's nothing more satisfying than seeing Benjamin and Elaine in that bus at the end..do they know where they are going or what they are going to do? Nope.. But they DO seem excited by the prospect that it's gonna be an adventure fueled by following their hearts. That's the power of passion..when you're young..it wins out over plastics quite often, as it should.

Youth is a time to explore boundaries, try different things, and find out who we are. I don't think growing up should be about avoiding careers that offer no return on investment, or (more generally) about avoiding mistakes by over-planning our lives to follow some safe, practical outline--then you get a culture of grown-up children who don't know how to handle failure. Failure, false starts, bad decisions, poor career choices..these things make a twenty-something stronger. Those things are experiencial, and that holds more sway in a young psyche than the advisorial.

Mike

There is no one answer to this age old problem. It used to be you did what your dad did or you worked on the family farm and that was that.

I think I accidentally followed his advice.
My opportunities for most of my adult life were in mainframe technology and I became good at what I did. Always keeping my passion for music and developing that craft as I continued developing my IT skills. This made it possible for me to switch careers from IT to music when the opportunity arose. I stay honest with myself about what I can and cannot do. That has made all the difference in getting both IT jobs and gigs.
While I will always pursue music as my life - I will evaluate opportunities as they come.

As I stayed working the jobs associated with my skills, (teen working and later band), landscaping, and eventually my longest job, (piano tuning, restoration and rebuilding), I always had a constant dream of JUST working at being a songwriter (and/or), leading a band with my and Bud's tunes. That dream of course was not realized, due to not spending time on learning the business early on, (and even much later), and not working on networking. I climbed to the top of each field I did work at, (landscaping and later, piano service work). BUT, I couldn't figure out why NO ONE TOOK BUDDY AND ME ON, so we could rise up and live the life of known rock stars! My passion was there for it, but like most dreams and passion, they are realized as a dream. That has one assume everyone else WILL consider that one as being just that, a rock star, or one about to be one.

Fool's Gold, the passion thing. The work I spent most time at, and took steps one at a time to keep working and get raises and on and on, LATER became a passion. I THEN found joy in accomplishing those jobs, for they became easier the more I learned and did.

Now, the music thing seemed easy as well after the very young years, BUT, I didn't BOTHER to do things step by step in order to WORK at music after the usual cover bands.

I had Passion for music. I had Dreams for music. But not the work ethic to make sure I WORKED at it, which really only gave Buddy and me very few chances to anything.

Besides that, I thought I was a better singer than I was. My MOTHER though, always would say, "Johnny, you play much better than you sing", bless her heart. BUT, my passion for doing music (IN MY DREAMS), heard me as if I should be on the radio! I'm not BAD, but I'm not a singer of the kind it would take to gain the masses or even a hundred people's MONEY with the type of songs we wrote. NO WAY. I was at best a demo singer for our songs. Even in my 2 Little Time band. I heard myself on recordings. YIKES!

I too, like Mike, laugh when I hear stars say, YOU CAN DO ANYTHING YOU DREAM OF . YOU TOO CAN BE THIS OR THAT. Ha! If that were the case, there would be five million hit songs at any one time on ONE old FM Station! Five million TOP box office draws at the theaters in one year! Five million Cy Young Award Winners in baseball during each year! Forgettaboutit!

I LOVED Mike's advice and reasoning!

I ONLY wish I would have figured out how to invest money when on top of my piano tuning career of 35 years before I got Tinnitus! I could have used THAT advice way back when. The rest? The Music? One song of our helped kept an English 15 year old girl form committing suicide. I have her letter from about '97, from being on MP3.com. So, that feels great still, as an accomplishment! The other little successes Buddy and I had? Cool, still. I KNOW I am not the Joel or McCartney, or similar, to be instantly found. Even those that are, it STILL takes THEIR WORKING EFFORTS at some job in music to even have that chance. No one gets up there by talent and dreams ALONE. They ALL worked for it, day in and day out. They also beat the great odds.

John

John,

You know I used to get emails and letters and packages and even a few phone calls earlier in JPF's history, around 1998-2008, with stories about helping people through tough times, including suicidal periods and at the time it happened so often I don't think I processed it the way I can now in hindsight as it has been at least a half decade since I moved someone that much it seems. With the clarity of 20/20 hindsight it's something to feel really good about not just for the people who might have been saved but even more so for the people who love them and are spared the tragedy. I lost my Mom this week after she suffered this entire year with surgeries, procedures and her final month in ICU and finally the final 5 days in her home surrounded by her husband and we three sons. If I ever did anything to save others from that experience then I have done far more with my life than having hit songs. So have you. I think often many of us barely realize the most important things we've done but I doubt strongly for anyone that having hit songs rank anywhere near the most important accomplishments of their lives.

Brian

Brian, I am left with an even more appreciation of my TRIES, which did lead to Kate and maybe others not causing pain for their families! Thank you for adding in that most important factor, the many family members who would have been left with trying to live through pain, blame and questions.

As I have retired from the constant trying of this and that in music, I am finding I am playing my old upright a lot more, (WITH Etymotic Musician ear plugs)! A MUST.

I had at first beat myself up for not being successful in the end result in any of my work, (as in a retirement plan, or savings). NADA! But, with Cindy, my kids, and others here, and YOU, pointing out what really matters, I HAVE found myself feeling better and better.

NOT to say I wouldn't LOVE another challenge, as in the one when we were handed a Russian Prison Camp script about Soltzenyisin to put Russian style music to! BUT, if not one more project is to be had, then I have at least found peace and a sense of accomplishment in the many things we and I did, especially with affecting Kate from England in such a life changing way! NOT all of us, or even 98% of us are going to, or meant to be the billy Joels, The Sir Paul, the Lennon, the Ojays, the Fabian, the Elvis, or even the 1910 Fruit Gum Company! If I DID have the chops of Sir Paul or Joel or Elvis, and then didn't "make it"? Well, then at least I would have a rational beef with the industry folks. Knowing I was NO WHERE near those? It's easier to take my tries in many ways and go home smiling, (now). I did "something" worth a life of a person!!!!

Thank yo for your insight, as always!

Sorry about your mom. I know that a rough deal in many ways. Our MOM! I know how that is. Since my passed, I felt more like a kid than before. Almost like an orphan in a way. I know I am emotionally too mature. Rock and Roll has kept me being 14-17 for the most part. I many times dwell on the past, my youth, for my sort of rare memory seems to pop in them all as if somebody is putting yet another quarter in the 24/7 jukebox of my memories. my dad told me once what hi dogtags where when I asked at age 8. It's Twelve O One O Three Two Five. Stuck in my head like a record skipping to just play those numbers by the singer.

Anyway, I also have to thank again for the PHONE CALL you made to me to have Paul's new record play over the phone before release even!!!!!! A precious moment, for sure!
Also, for asking me to come out to Hatboro, PA, to "The "Grind" coffee house to play my Too Little Time song! Ya know, when I said no at first, my daughter and her husband YELLED AT ME, "Dad, you HAVE to do that! Irt's WHO you are"! So, I wrote back to you and accepted. Glad I did. Was a GREAT time in my life, and one of the most meaningful, (that experience and the four following showcases throughout the Northeast US)! That soon after led to me forming the 2LT band with former bandmates, and one, (Roon), who I saw a year before in a Barrington coffee house! Then, IGGY, from here, asked to have a tryout. he joined the night he came over! So, it was incredible, despite my compulsive issues, poor guys!

Joining JFP long before the date claims, (I was around the 100th member or so in 1997), has given me many experiences and friends here and in person I would have not had and enjoyed. From YOU forming JPF! Think of that! in 2018, I am STILL affected by being here, and have many, many memories because of your JPF!

So, THANK YOU! LOVE YOU!

John

John,

You were likely one of the first 100 online newsletter members, but I started this in 1985 as an independent theater group putting on shows and transitioned to music a couple years later and there was over a decade of real life members then we did the AOL Sunday night music industry chat which often had 100's of people each week. That was circa 1990. (prior to that I was involved in several local music groups including NSAI and an Indianapolis group I helped run from 1983-1987) I broke my leg severely at work leading me to working at the #1 Indy radio station WZPL, the last station to beat Bob and Tom while I was there, which was no small feat. The email list and subsequent newsletter fully developed in the mid to late 90's when it really exploded which I believe was when you joined us.

Brian

Yes, that would be accurate.

I believe we have to be realistic, about what we want to be in life,

The profession I followed in my teens , seemed okay at that time, but it involved

going to the same unit each day , and I longed to get out into the world , not be stuck

in one place I needed to see how others lived in country's I new nothing about apart

from what I had read, I dis exactly that became a Journey Woman, If I had not done that

I would never have been happy in those earlier jobs, I soon found out I could do something

I never would have dreamed of if I had listened to others

Intern Kicked Out:

I agree with the advice that young people should consider learning a skill rather than looking purely to academics for a future. The trades are begging for interns in electricity, plumbing, carpentry, asphalt and concrete, and transportation.

Unfortunately I was the "Backward Boy". My Grandfather and Father were house painters/carpenters, and my step-father was an auto mechanic and welder and had his own shop. I was born the hound dog who couldn't hunt. No hand-eye coordination for painting, woodworking, or repairing cars or anything else I broke. We were hand -to-mouth poor and my Mother anguished over how I was going to make a living. My academics suffered as I worked three jobs through high school doing the things I would never excel at, and coping with life in a family plagued with alcoholism and violence . My personal motto was "I will do what I have to do until I can do what I want to do."(having no idea what I wanted to do). My high school guidance counselor took me into her office toward the end of my senior year and told me "Perry, you are not college material, so I did not schedule you for college entrance exams with your classmates. There will be no classes for seniors that day so you have a day off school."

I sat in the city park and watched the two busloads of seniors drive past to the exam center at a nearby University. I then left Illinois to go to California where I was sure I would find work. The oil embargo put a damper on jobs for unskilled labor. I joined the Army after being homeless for a few months. My combat experience was brief (90 days) due to a rollover crash, and I was given administrative jobs while recovering. My drinking buddy would sit in the barracks room we shared and would chug Chivas Regal, strait from the jug, until he passed out. While he was drinking he would be studying for college level exams. Hangover and all, he would drag himself to the Army Education Center and take the exams, passing every one of them he took. He was sent to another duty station and gave me study materials saying, "Crawford, you better do this because your body is a wreck." I took a couple of them, passed them, and got hooked. I took 40 of those exams. The education center Officer sent the exams I passed to the University of the State of New York who then sent me a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology. I did not choose that major, it was how the school sorted my exams to see what requirements were met.

I took the degree to my Commander who sent me on special duty orders to the Drug and Alcohol counseling center. The civilians I worked for there helped me get into a Masters program, and then into a Doctoral program in counseling. I now had a skill that my physical challenges could not take away from me. I now have 44 years with the Army, 30 of those years as a Counseling Psychologist. By being willing to do whatever I had to do, until I could do what I wanted to do (after finding it) led me to a fine profession. Doing this work (applying this knowledge) made me an effective adjunct professor for Park University teaching 15 different courses in Psychology, Sociology, Counseling and Therapy for the past 20 years on military bases in Southern California. Having the privilege of growing future counselors and therapists by insisting they apply what they are learning as volunteers while in school and until they have a paid position. Too many teachers and professors are academics only and have never worked the field of counseling and therapy.

My skills have afforded me a generous salary and supplemental income, allowing me time to write stories and songs, and have the pleasure of giving others pleasure. My stories stem from my work with all kinds of people and the experiences in human nature that come with it. I cannot hold it all in. I have to express what I have learned, and will yet learn, until I go on to what comes next.

Learning from the contributors on this website has brought me joy, beyond what any amount of money could match. Thank you all.

Thanks for sharing Perry... didn't know any of that about you... what a great timeline!

Brian!
Have you looked at the General Board lately? Somebody is using it for Medical Advertizments!

Not anymore

Brilliant Brian thanks for the link

Perry, I reread your post above (because this is a really old post on the infancy of a project that got halted with the loss of several friends and my mother last year) and I really should have commented further. I think it was a blessing that you didn't immediately try to get into college back in high school and possibly end up turned off by it as you weren't quite ready for it yet, but by pausing a bit and trying something practical while you waited worked out well. And I think it could have gone many other directions, but would also have turned out well. I am saddened when I meet new college grads 140K in debt and with a pointless degree with only a single career path which is often teaching the same pointless info to other victims at a future University after many more years of study and expense and nothing to show at the end but all the victims you created, chewed up and eaten by the system. I have guest lectured and taught classes and spend much of it deprogramming songwriter wannabes and musician wannabes from all the bad info they have been given and all the false hope created by vampires who did it to make a few more bucks off them. I've seen my nearly 4 decades of doing this stuff as more of a calling than career divergence. I did college, I did corporate ladder, I direct managed a team of over 300 people (with no one else between me and them) and managed 2.5 billion dollars back in the early 90's at another job. I've also done this mostly for free (yes, I found a way via working an extra job or saving/investing and carefully budgeting to keep going as long as I could) and I have come out the other end, not in debt, not wealthy by any stretch beyond the wealth of friends and experiences I enjoyed and benefited from/by. I did it so my life meant something to ME, not anyone else, though thankfully for me I have some lifelong friends who were part of it and who keep me reminded of previous good deeds I have done. My health took a terrible turn from someone with boundless energy leading into 2010 and coming out in 2011 frail and struggling to survive while doing my best to keep up as much work as I could. The reality is my output has slowed to a crawl and the awards this time around which require near limitless work for 2 years from a healthy Brian to what is now over 3 years and crawling from my current self, so I have my history and my shared experiences with my wife and close friends and even more with my extended JPF Family who I got to meet and laugh with all over the 40+ countries and 48 States I have visited, face to face, in their homes or hometowns and now and then I gather up the energy to do someone nice for the community even now. I hope people who get conned into believing EVERYONE has ALL THE TALENTS they can imagine AT A PROFESSIONAL, IN DEMAND level for life if they just spend the money on this or that or pay this guy or that gal who have the secret power to make it all happen, can, like you, take a step back, assess the reality of their situation, move forward with conviction towards something more productive to their own lives than the lottery ticket of fame and fortune (both of which are an illusion most of the time and cost SOOO much more than just some money and time and talent to achieve and sustain, it often takes varying sizes of their soul (insert whatever your believe may be) if not all of it before it is done. I have so many famous friends (often "formerly famous") who wish they'd gone a different way, or at least said NO when they should have now and then instead of the false promise that ALWAYS saying yes to anything will turn out well (what TERRIBLE advice that can be). Ah well, off the soapbox...

Brian

Cheyenne,

I thought initially you thought it was bad advice on your first post, so maybe I misunderstood. I made EVERY mistake of doing what I was "supposed" to do and still regret ALL of it. So I wish I had done it your way. It took me way more courage to finally pull the plug from jobs I despised and working for people I despised and trying to help people within those terrible jobs, often using myself as their human shield when I was middle management and I stood up on their behalf against my own bosses which was career suicide for me. (Thankfully... it was a "life" at that point that needed to end). I only wish those a holes I worked for/with all those years (with a couple brief exceptions) would have had mercy on me and fired me straight up, I would have left that nonsense behind and perhaps made JPF more into what I had hoped sooner and caught the first net wave while keeping my instincts and values intact WITH resources. At the tail end of the Internet Boom as the bust was coming and people with lots of money and no clue what to do with it, I was offered 8 million dollars for JPF and turned it down. There was SOOOO much nonsense attached to it I just said no and walked away to their astonishment. It was a company with WAY too much money and no real idea what to do with it so they wanted to buy my vision but insert all their non-vision BS which kept them from having their own passion project.

Ahhh... the stories we could tell if only there was enough gas in the tank.

Brian

Finding your creation (JPF) has given me joy. That, to me, is worth more than money. I get my creativity, sense of fun, and contribution batteries recharged. I have shared your gift of JPF with some of my patients that have had talents unshared due to addictions or self-deprecation and fear. The response to the influence and feedback from JPF participants has led to a recording contract for one with an independent label, publication for another for his series of adventure stories with an E-magazine for gamers, and a showing of artwork for another at a local museum. Others have found their voice by taking the risk of auditioning for plays and musicals here at Fort Irwin. Therapy is the experience gleaned from doing things differently and adjusting to the new results. You have long been a therapist with immeasurable positive outcomes. Thank you.

Wow.. thanks Perry! I used to get emails with info such as you shared above all the time, but I had no perspective as this was growing to really appreciate the results. Now as things have wound down a bit I get it. I wish we could re-energize things, but I am afraid without help from others (which I used to get in spades) it is really hard to get the messages out. I stopped writing the newsletter which went out to our 57K members because only about 40% were even opening it up and of those fewer and fewer were engaging. In the heyday of JPF, I literally had over 85% readership on every newsletter, sometimes it was over 90%. I bet if I sent one out today, aside from the fact that people rarely use email anymore, especially to read a newsletter, I'd likely see only 10% or less reading it. It is just how the world has changed.

Okay.. so yeah.. I need to get posting here eh? heh...

Heh........sure, dare ya to find the time.

Oh, the time is there, but the memory to post isn't Mac. I am easily distracted when I have a dozen important projects I WANT to do.

Thanks for the nudge!

Brian