Good Old Fashioned Hard Work and ELMO

[boy_bye]

last night i watched "being elmo" on netflix. it tells the story of a young african american guy from a lower middle class neighborhood in baltimore who became one of the most influential puppeteers in the world.

he started making puppets as a kid when he cut up the warm lining to his dad's raincoat to create a monkey. he didn't get in trouble -- his folks just said "ask next time, OK?" kids in school made fun of him but stopped when he landed his first paid gig on baltimore TV as a teenager. he worked his way up to captain kangaroo and the great space coaster, which was my favorite as a kid! no gnus is good gnus!

by age 25 was working with jim henson himself. then he landed at sesame street, where he developed elmo and where he works to this day.

it is a really sweet story, especially the scenes where you see elmo interacting with little kids who are clearly overwhelmed at meeting a character they absolutely adore.

the biggest thing i took from this is that the only way to get great at something is to bust your ass. which is easier to do when you love what you are doing!

highly recommended if you love stories of people who work hard and become awesome.

[MountainMan]

Thanks for the tip!  I'll check this out.

I agree that it is important to find something you enjoy, at least a little bit.

If one is trying for FIRE, even 10-15 years can be a long time, and I figure it's best to enjoy the work in some form.

And if you really enjoy it, you might not want to leave that kind of work anyway, but FI might give you more options or allow you to be more gusty in taking trying things out that might yield bigger rewards in your line of work. 

But not everyone has the option of following their passion and get paid well for it... but if one can... it's good. :)

[sol]

And if you really enjoy it, you might not want to leave that kind of work anyway, but FI might give you more options or allow you to be more gusty in taking trying things out that might yield bigger rewards in your line of work. 

From this perspective, the cowards's choice is to NOT retire.  If forced to pick between my secure and high-paying desk job that I don't like all that much, and the chance to have my minimum expenses covered and instead pursue my own opportunities on my own time, it almost makes it hard to justify not retiring early.  Why waste your life on something that is anything less than super awesome?

Especially if you've already built up a little baby stash and have enough to cover food and housing.  I can see slaving away for the man until you're certain you won't be homeless or starving, but how much longer will you slave to upgrade your car, get a fancy phone, or take tropical vacations for one week a year?  I find no justification for staying in the rat race.

[MountainMan]

And if you really enjoy it, you might not want to leave that kind of work anyway, but FI might give you more options or allow you to be more gusty in taking trying things out that might yield bigger rewards in your line of work. 

From this perspective, the cowards's choice is to NOT retire.  If forced to pick between my secure and high-paying desk job that I don't like all that much, and the chance to have my minimum expenses covered and instead pursue my own opportunities on my own time, it almost makes it hard to justify not retiring early.  Why waste your life on something that is anything less than super awesome?

Especially if you've already built up a little baby stash and have enough to cover food and housing.  I can see slaving away for the man until you're certain you won't be homeless or starving, but how much longer will you slave to upgrade your car, get a fancy phone, or take tropical vacations for one week a year?  I find no justification for staying in the rat race.

I totally agree.  It makes the prospect of millions of Mustachians exciting.  Imagine millions of Mustachians reaching FIRE and doing what is, to them, super awesome.  They would profoundly change society with what they do.

[boy_bye]

I totally agree.  It makes the prospect of millions of Mustachians exciting.  Imagine millions of Mustachians reaching FIRE and doing what is, to them, super awesome.  They would profoundly change society with what they do.

yes! this is a thrilling thought! especially when you consider that at least some of those mustachians will start companies doing super awesome stuff, thereby
* providing others with jobs that are about more than just making money,
* creating better options in the marketplace for people who want to spend and invest ethically,
* and innovating new ways to improve life outside the standard wasteful industrial paradigm.

so exciting!!