# Realising you'll never amount to anything. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 30, 2015, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323 "2015-01-30T10:40:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323/101 "2015-02-03T15:17:28Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > If everyone could perform surgery, play professional sports, sing and dance on stage, etc., who would keep the streets clean? Well, for sure it won’t be me. I just don’t agree that I haven’t amounted to anything. What I have done is important to my wife and my children and my God. That’s different from being famous, but it is not less important. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323/102 "2015-02-03T16:35:13Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > fame > [@LSLGuy](#): > > … is pretty much a con game. Two separate quotes. It within board rules. **LSLGuy** , you should SO put this on a T-shirt. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323/103 "2015-02-03T17:58:55Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > If everyone could perform surgery, play professional sports, sing and dance on stage, etc., who would keep the streets clean? Singing, dancing hockey players with brooms? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323/104 "2015-02-03T19:43:04Z")
I think everyone for the most part, grows up imagining and hoping that they’ll be a famous actor, rock star, soldier, astronaut, politician, athlete, scientist, etc… Then at some point, there’s usually a realization that there are literally millions of other people who want to be the next George Clooney, David Lee Roth, Jimmy Carter or George Patton or whatever. You also realize that there’s a colossal amount of sheer luck involved with that level of success, despite whatever stupid platitudes about making your own luck that people offer up. There’s also a realization that unless you’re literally the POTUS or the equivalent in your field, success / making something of yourself is rather relative. I mean, what’s an _unsuccessful_ politician, for example? Someone who ran for the school board and never got elected would definitely count, but otherwise, is it a state legislator who never made the jump to US Rep, or state senate? Is it the city councilman who never made the jump to state rep? Or the state rep who got all his bills passed at the state level, but never managed to get one passed when he got elected as a federal rep? Or a state rep in some smaller state like Arkansas vs. a city councilman somewhere like Chicago or Houston? Which is more successful? Once you start thinking about those things, you start to realize that in large part, success is what you define it to be. It’s too easy and unhealthy to define success as the very apex of the pyramid and then be disappointed when you don’t reach it. Better rather to define what’s important to you, and work toward achieving that, and then when you do, you’ll be more proud and have a better feeling of accomplishment than if you were doing it based on someone else’s expectations. ---
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323/105 "2015-02-03T23:13:07Z")
To the world you may be one person, but to one person, you may be the world., to quote Bill Wilson. Growing up in NYC forces one to confront their insignificance at an early age. I lived on a city block with over two hundred other families. Each family was, at any one time, experiencing their own drama, tragedy,heartbreak or joy. Someone in each building may have been making love, while others were fighting to keep their marriage alive. It’s humbling. And awesome. ---
**Author:** ![BOOM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@BOOM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BOOM)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323/106 "2015-02-03T23:32:29Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I think everyone for the most part, grows up imagining and hoping that they’ll be a famous actor, rock star, soldier, astronaut, politician, athlete, scientist, etc… Maybe it’s a cultural thing or a generational thing but I really don’t think that at all. Maybe some do but far more aspire to go to Uni, have fun, make friends, travel a little, experience stuff. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323/107 "2015-02-04T05:03:24Z")
> [@BOOM](#): > > Maybe it’s a cultural thing or a generational thing but I really don’t think that at all. > > Maybe some do but far more aspire to go to Uni, have fun, make friends, travel a little, experience stuff. Seriously? You didn’t have fantasies as a child about being the quarterback/center/striker/pitcher for your home sports team, or that of your parents’ college? Or think about being a movie star or rock star? Or an astronaut? Or President/Prime Minister? I’m not talking about being a teenager, but rather as a kid. Most people have an inkling that while they may end up a rock star since they’re in a band, they’re not likely to be a sports star if they don’t even play sports. Or vice-versa. Or even being a famous scientist and discovering something momentous. That sort of leads into my point I was trying to make- it’s really easy to look at success as an all-or-nothing sort of thing, and decide that you’re a failure or didn’t amount to anything because you’re second author on a half-dozen academic papers in unspectacular journals. But it’s relative. To the PhD washouts, you look successful in your career, and to some person who didn’t go to college at all, you look super successful, even if you’re not Stephen Hawking, Tim Berners-Lee or Philip W. Anderson. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323/108 "2015-02-04T16:28:53Z")
I don’t know if that’s a particular American thing but I didn’t mean famous when I said amounting to anything. There are a myriad of ways we can make something of ourselves without it being the zomg fame route but I no longer think I’ll even achieve anything worthwhile in a more modest sense. I am just waiting to die. ---
**Author:** ![BOOM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c4cdca/32.png) [@BOOM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BOOM)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2015, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323/109 "2015-02-04T17:01:08Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Seriously? You didn’t have fantasies as a child about being the quarterback/center/striker/pitcher for your home sports team, or that of your parents’ college? Or think about being a movie star or rock star? Or an astronaut? Or President/Prime Minister? > > I’m not talking about being a teenager, but rather as a kid. Like when I believed in Father Christmas and Jesus? Sure, but at that age you’re in another world. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323/110 "2015-02-05T01:17:44Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I don’t know if that’s a particular American thing but I didn’t mean famous when I said amounting to anything. There are a myriad of ways we can make something of ourselves without it being the zomg fame route but I no longer think I’ll even achieve anything worthwhile in a more modest sense. I am just waiting to die. I really doubt this is true. Please go see _It’s a Wonderful Life_ (or see it again, if you’ve already seen it). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323/111 "2015-02-05T01:54:33Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I don’t know what a Miata or a Reuben is. A Miata is a two-seat sports car made by Mazda of Japan. Often sold as a convertible. Think of the modern equivalent of a 1960s-1970s MG or Triumph. A fun car for cruising the countryside with the wind in your hair and a smile on your face. A Reuben is a classic deli sandwich. Usually a generous helping of warm thin-sliced corned beef piled high on rye bread. Often made with sauerkraut, spicy mustard, or both. It’s impossible to be in a bad mood while eating one. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323/112 "2015-02-05T02:35:49Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > It’s funny hitting that point in life where you realise that clearly you probably will never starve but you’ll probably never do anything that merits even a footnote in anyone’s account of anything ever again. I just took a government job, it is amazing how mundane and pointless my role is. I am a smart enough guy, I felt, in the past I could achieve things. Feels like as good a time as any to give up such pretensions and just batten down for the inevitable massive heart attack. I don’t see why I should worry about this. I’m one of 7+ billion people on this planet. I don’t have any “Right” to fame. Only about 0.001% of us will be notable. just go do what you do and stop acting like your personal worth is tied to what people you’ll never meet think of you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/realising-youll-never-amount-to-anything/711323.md?page=5)