If I do really well in my career, I one day hope to having savings in excess of five million dollars. That means that if you took twenty of me, you'd be able to cover Larry Ellison's annual salary. If he saved that salary for twenty years, he'd have the net worth of Ted Turner. On the other hand, it would take more than twenty Ted Turners to buy a Bill Gates.
On the other hand, with five million dollars I'd be able to conservatively spend about a thousand dollars a day for the rest of my life without really worrying about working down the base.
If I only look upwards, I will always be miserable.
It's the same with smarts, really. My adviser is pretty hot shit in our field and he talks pretty reverently of a few people whose contributions have been even more important. And whenever I get a chance to talk to those guys, they're always going on about how much they wish they could do really hard math... the kind that wins Wolf prizes.
It's always endless if you look upwards. The next level always seems unapproachable and if you do get there, there's always another level to go.It's good to have ambition, but its critical to have a sense of scale.
Besides, twenty years from now when you get a call from a hospital about my love ones dying, none of this will matter at all.
I agree, ambition is good but you need to be intelligent about it.
ReplyDeleteI don't really want an excess of crazy amounts of money, I just want to be able to support myself, my girlfriend, marry her, buy a house, and live comfortably. I don't need a mansion or 3 ferrari's. I just want a decent salary and my love at my side
ReplyDeleteso true about the end.
ReplyDeleteHaha that's really excess. alphabetalife.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI need 5 large mansions in several countries, about 30 cars I can't afford and 10 servants to look after everything. I'll be content when I achieve that. :| I'll never be content. I love the idea of always having bigger and bigger dreams.
ReplyDeleteWow. Impressive text. Very, very true though.
ReplyDelete"If I only look upwards, I will always be miserable."
ReplyDeleteThat's deep man :)
Good read bro
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Some profound thoughts here.
ReplyDeletedeep stuff, thought provoking!
ReplyDeletewell life's always going to be filled with its up and downs. gotta make the best of em though
ReplyDeleteGreat life goal!
ReplyDeletedon't we all =P i guess it depends on how determined we are says who can have such a savings
ReplyDeletedeep stuff, thx
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting stuff, but I still want five million dollars.
ReplyDeleteYep, the last sentence is so true.
ReplyDeleteI need 10 large mansions in 20 countries. Someone's going to have to invent teleportation technology so that I can straddle my mansions between 2 or more countries at once though.
ReplyDelete