Background: A close friend of mine has been having some trouble finding his way in life. His work has gotten boring and no longer interests him. He has made some effort on finding some activities he's interested in. Commendable effort, actually the second most effort put into something by someone I know. The first goes to another friend who decided to to fly to China to literally do what he wants. I could never do that, and at this point you all probably know why. ANYWAY, this original friend and I have been talking a lot and as we prepare to vacation together, a lot of talking has becoming advice giving and general opinion sharing of other issues. He sent me this PDF file from some entrepreneur that encourages "chasing the dream" and starting a business and doing what you love mumbo jumbo. I personally am not a fan, but hey, whatever get's you outta the bed in the morning to "just do it" get's a pass in my book.
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| There are way too many images of this speech on the internet. |
1) What makes you happiest in your life? What excites you?
Really starting off strong with this one, huh? Seems to be the broadest question with the broadest of answers. I'm gonna start typing without too much thought to see if I can stumble upon a deeper meaning.
You know what makes me the happiest in my life? Knowing that I can wake up every day with a roof over my head, clothes to wear, food to eat. People who care about me and people I care for relying on one another to live their lives. Having money - though not a whole lot of it (and if you don't agree you're stupid).
What excites me? Lacing up my shoes to get ready to play volleyball. Knowing that I have plans and things to do after work. Getting seated at a restaurant. Getting things that I ordered in the mail. Knowing I have time to myself. Having the time to myself. Friday's after work. An aced serve, a winning point. Plans that were pre-made and executed without faults. Ripping off a tags on new clothes I just bought. Turning on a new electronic. Free food. Happy parents. Staring at a room area you just cleaned.
I mean are you looking for something deeper? Cuz writing all those things down just now has put my heart rate in a tizzy.
2) What do you do that makes you feel invincible?
Kill a ball on a great set, open net. Finishing a workout. I've already discussed my fear of dying at any moment. This question is really hard to answer, but obviously my first though went to volleyball. Now I'm slowly realizing these questions might be useless to answer since my passion is volleyball. Perhaps I'll humor myself and continue on the possibility of finding something new. I guess I also feel slightly invincible when I weave in and out of slow moving traffic smoothly, but that probably says more negative things about me than positive. Let's move along.
3) What do people thank you for?
Oh this is a neat question. I get thanked for good plays in volleyball. I get thanked for covering someone when a payment is due. I get thanked for all the rides I give. For doing favors. Holding the door. I'm not really sure where this question is wanting to take me, but I'm pretty superficial when it comes to the answers. I mean, it's not like I get thanked for being a son, or being strong. The closest to that would be being thanked for being a good friend and listener. That doesn't happen too much but it does make for a nice warm feeling. Thanks on their own are pretty weird I think. It's hard to tell if their genuine nowadays - always depends on the situation. If you're checking out at the register, you're going to get thanked and thank the person at the register as well. I get that you'll MEAN it, but I feel like it doesn't hold the same strength as thanking someone for saving their dog or something. Get what I mean? Perhaps that's another discussion. (How many time's have I said that in the entirety of this blog?)
4) What are you ridiculously good at? What are your precious gifts?
All aboard the humble train. Ridiculously good is a very strong set of words. I wouldn't say I'm RIDICULOUSLY good at anything. Though through professional credentials it would seem that I'm really good at two things: volleyball and chemistry. One of those is true. Personal credentials? None. I'm not ridiculously good at anything except maybe procrastinating, but not even really RIDICULOUSLY good at that because I seem to get shit done regardless. This question is not for the humble.
In terms of precious gifts... again, I don't know whether or not this is talking about possessions or talents. I keep a memory/collection box in my room to remind me of good times. I guess that's a precious gift. I think my super nintendo is also a precious gift. I don't have any talents that I would consider "precious." That seems really odd. These questions are odd.
5) Who do you look up to? Who are your mentors? Who inspires you? Why?
I look up to my parents a lot. They work really hard to provide for a family that doesn't seem like they appreciate them too much. I do though, just have crappy ways of showing it. Any accomplished scientist I can look up to. I used to have mentors, hopefully I've become someones's mentor at this time. I feel like I'm at a place where I don't necessary need a mentor anymore. I need to figure things out myself and learn about life accordingly.
6) When was the last time you massively over-delivered on something? What was it and why did you work so damn hard?
This year's NABA volleyball tournament. I don't ever remember recognizing that I threw out my arm and saying, let's keep going - I want to win. That was pretty intense, even for me when I look back at it. That's a massive over-delivery right there. Worth every second. The rest afterwards was a godsend. Probably my next thing is my master's thesis. Took a lot of time to work through and practice. A fear of presenting to my professors was conquered, and they were impressed as well. Really is a milestone in my life. I worked so damn hard for volleyball because it's what I go to do. I don't fly out to these places to have fun and vacation, though it is nice to find time for that. I came to play and I came to win. As for the thesis, that was really forced upon me. It was a good experience, though. I don't recall working academically that hard in a long time. Maybe ever.
7) When was the last time you were in a state of flow, in the zone and totally lost track of time? What were you doing?
I was playing video games. It's easy to lose track of time when a game immerses you so hard that you snap out of it knowing that you gotta eat something, or pee real bad. I think it's pretty awesome when that happens. An example when something like this is a bad thing is when you're kind of waking up and falling asleep on a weekend and before you know it, it's 3PM and your day is all gone. I hate that.
8) Imagine you won $158 million in the lottery. It's now three months later. How will you spend tomorrow?
Did I write a post about this? I'm too lazy to check. I'm assuming that if I had won that large sum of money, I would only end up with 80-90 million. There is an amazing comment on REDDIT that outlines what I should be doing with that large sum of money and I'm sure I would adhere to process. Put all my money in the right place, distribute to the family in a responsible manner, and invest. 3 months later. If this were asked on a weekday my easy answer for wat I would do tomorrow is go to work. Since it's Friday and the weekend approaches, knowing I have more than enough money to spend I'd probably sleep in and go out to eat somewhere. Additionally, I'd probably have a tournament somewhere so I'd go do that and probably buy something I wanted. BASICALLY what i'm trying to say here is that life doesn't change for me. Work, volleyball, and now the money just allows me to eat at fancier places, and buy fancier things. Hopefully at the end I'm still the same man.
9) What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
Love this question. So many options. Play professional volleyball. Open my own restaurant. Go for a PhD. Buy a lottery ticket? Get into game design. Apply for a job at Nintendo. Talk to people. Failing is an easy thing to do, and is so necessary to learn about life and your limits. This question is great for me because I lived a life being afraid of failure, which I don't think is all that uncommon. There are so many things I would've loved to do - and it is a shame that I don't get to see what could've been. Where I am now, though, is just fine because (see question 1).
Woo those questions are broad. Hopefully next time they get more interesting. Hopefully next time I get more interesting.
ta ta kids
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