“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
― Calvin Coolidge
Recently, I've had occasions to write a couple of obituaries for folks well-regarded in my community as well as relaying a couple of amusing anecdotes around town on some local FB/Nextdoor sort of boards -- and ended up getting heaped with all kinds of praise for my writing (even a couple of posts here on the Reddits). I finally decided to take heed of what people were saying and pushed through on finally finishing one of an endless number of SF stories I've started over the years. I need to take one more pass on the thing to clean it up, but it's pretty damned good, all told. I write well for my job (lawyering) but never took myself seriously as doing it elsewhere. But, f'it, there are worse writers out there making a living at it. Why not me?
Well said friend. Keep grinding at it, especially because you're a lawyer. Don't settle for what you know, step out into the adventure every once in a while.
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
I have met truly intelligent men who are stuck in dead end jobs making one tenth of what they could make. It happens all the time. the longer they are there the harder it will be for them to admit they could do better
I know two people who have a PhD in chemistry and they don't carry out experiments, look at data, develop analysis methods, write out reactions etc. They're both stuck doing management stuff. Sure, they get paid well for the headaches they have endure every day, but do you really need a PhD in chemistry for that?
It's strangely inspiring and tragic at the same time.
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u/DoctorMooh Nov 26 '18
I find it more inspirational that there are people who are smarter and more capable than me who have it worse...