Well, I wasn't going to post ALL the jobs I've had because it would APPEAR I was blowing my own horn. But when I read your statement above, I decided to go ahead and write this. It is long, but some of you may really learn some 'Living With Life" info' that may be interesting to you. (That was the name of my syndicated radio program I did for 8 years. Just one of my many jobs.)

I can alter your sentence just a bit and tell you how I commiserate: "I think most of my frustration is having only one life . . . " Oh, yes! Like you, I THINK I'm highly intelligent and I have found in my long life I just can't do ENOUGH new things to satisfy me! I have left jobs others would have died for because I quickly got bored and thought I would enjoy something else better. You said, " . . . and being unable to have a ton of careers and achievements." That is EXACTLY what I have done, and believe me . . . that doesn't always give TOTAL satisfaction! I'll soon be 70 and I STILL don't know what I want to be when I grow up!

In my long life I have done the below:
- Assembly Line Worker at General Electric
- 2 years of military during Vietnam
- 5 different universities and 5 degrees earned (Including Heidelberg University, Germany)
- Press Secretary to the Governor of Kentucky
- TV Evening News Anchor for the ABC Network affiliate in Kentucky
- TV Talk Show Host
- Singer in my own band
- Can play the piano
- Can type over 100 words a minute
- Public Speaker and Entertainer
- Free Lance Magazine Writer and Photographer
- Music Director at my church for 35 years
- US Army Reserves as Commandant of Schools for the 100th Division (KY) Retired at age 60 after 34 years of service.
- Built my own home with my own hands (took 8 years!). Can do most anything electrical, plumbing, carpentry, etc.
- Own and live on a farm and raise Black Angus Cattle
- I raise Honey Bees
- I serve on many boards and am on the Adivsory Board to the President of Cumberland University (KY)
- Was a hell of a basketball player all the way to age 64. I played at a small college and on the Army team. Ran 10K's for years. Then, got old and fat when I got out of the military
- And . . . I now own my own supply business serving factories and other big businesses with a variety of needs. THIS IS THE LOWEST INTELLECTUAL LEVEL I'VE EVER WORKED AT!!! What is hell though, is it makes more damned money than all my fancy degree jobs, wearing suits and ties, and the public acclaim during TV days.

I'm leaving out probably 15 others things I've done in life. Bottom line: I'm a Jack of all trades, and and expert in none!!!

Through all of this Grinder . . . I have never felt fulfilled! So . . . I tell you this to let you know you may not be missing anything after all. Yeah, I know that feeling of "I'm sharper than this . . . surely, I can do something better." When I mow my giant yard, I ride with my brain churning and transfixed on "What should I have ACTUALLY done with my life?!" I'm still reaching for the brass ring. I have finally resigned to myself that I should accept and be glad I can make a hell of a living by sitting up in the bed in the mornings and broker orders on the phone or my laptop. Sit in my underwear typing (like this!), eventually getting a shower and then 'going to town' just to get out of the house. I make my Courthouse rounds to bullshit with politicians, office holders, and civic leaders. I keep active in the community because you never know when you might need something!!! When I get real bored, I go next door to my neighbor to discuss politics. He is US Senator Rand Paul. You may have heard of him.

The search for new challenges was why I got into pinball. But it is actually waning and now I'm thinking of building a recording studio because my grown children have been singers (with me) their entire lives, plus performing in community theater. We are also requested to sing a lot of funerals and weddings (where at times I can't tell which is which! Ha.) I've already built a 3D movie theater and stage in a separate building on our farm. We rehearse there.

I must resign myself to teach all I can to my 4 young grandchildren and keep on plugging. I can never retire. If I did, I'd just die. In fact, that post way above, "I'm going to have to work right up until Lunch on the day of my funeral" applies to my way of thinking!

One last bit of advice to you and ANYONE who is interested. This is IMPORTANT and you need to read it even if you are tired from reading this long post!!! I learned something over the years about planning for the future in financial matters. This is difficult to do when you are young, but . . . purchase small amounts of stock in companies that pay BIG DIVIDENDS! Don't concentrate so much on the 'gains'. Just stick with those that are not going backward but pay huge dividends. Some pay monthly, especially the REITS and the housing sector. After more than 30 years of doing this, I have accumulated enough stock that pays dividends where today, they pay me as much monthly as my jobs in my younger years. I could live off of the dividends alone now. I think this is the most 'silent' and under-talked-about life strategy I know of. Pension or no pension, you will have this income. It is painful to park that money away at first, but you get used to it. You adjust.

Long-winded, I know . . . but for you Grinder, and for anyone else out there thinking they are having an unfulfilled life . . . sometimes it just ain't out there. If you have a personality like mine . . . it is an unending quest.

I wish all of you the best in life!

Mike in Kentucky

I KNEW you would chime in!!! Well . . . you've got something that I don't have and that's the ability to READ music!!! I fooled them at church all those years because I could memorize a melody quickly and could "follow the dots" on the page!!! You would think after all these years and wanting CHALLENGES, I would teach myself how to read music. But there's too much MATH involved. By the time I can cipher how many beats are to a measure, the song will be over with!!!

I envy you with this skill!!!

While it's nice to have a compliment, what you said made me feel guilty! I'm not really very cool. Just ask my kids!!!! Ha.

Besides . . . I don't have the body like you must have. At my age, I'm just about 'petered' out!

Dang! I knew you were smart ZNET! And a great writer too!

One of my worst qualities is I can't keep messages short. But, I'll try this time (already failed I see upon proofreading!). Your post about Malcom Gladwell's premise prompted me to write this. (Sorry! Ha.)

I was instantly hired to anchor TV news through a quirky "happenstance". It was a cold, snowy evening just a few days before Christmas. I was walking across campus at Western Kentucky University and heard Christmas carols. There was a "Lighting of the Green" ceremony going on in front of one of the largest buildings on campus. It was a perfect setting. Snow cascading softly down, the university choir and all those gathered round singing Christmas carols and the lighting taking place. I happened to have a hand-held tape recorder with me. I suddenly decided to pretend I was a reporter and started ad-libbing a narration. My words synced with the background music and luckily, I managed to form the words without any mistakes. It was tight and cohesive. When I stopped talking at about 1 minute 30 seconds, the music faded as if on cue. When I played it back it was so danged good I couldn't believe it! The timing, mostly. Not my words.

I phoned the local TV station and asked the news director if he would like to hear it. Kind of crazy and bold, when I look back on it. I saw their cameraman there, and back in those days, you shot silent 16mm film and then dubbed your voice-over back at the studio. He told me to come to the station. When I got there, he was nice and said, "Just for kicks lets hear it." When the recording finished, he whirled around and ran upstairs to the control room without saying anything other than, "Stay here! We only have a few minutes until air." The film they had shot had been edited and it was 1 minute and 33 seconds long. Just enough to EXACTLY cover my narration. He asked me could he use it. Of course, I said, "SURE!". It played on the 10 o'clock news and I got an acknowledgement. I kinda liked that and was beaming about my 'cleverness' during the drive back home.

Two years later, after working for the Governor, I decided politics wasn't for me and I decided to move back to the city where the university was (Bowling Green, KY). I phoned a friend in Public Relations at the university and told her I was thinking of moving back and would need to look for a job. An hour later she phoned me and said, "I just found out the TV station is looking for a weekend news anchor. You ought to come and try out for it." I drove the 3 hour drive the next day and low and behold the job interviewer was the same news director who had played my tape two years prior. When I told him I thought I'd like to apply for the job, he looked at me and said, "Michael, my boy! You will be the first person we have ever hired without having to cut an audition tape. I already know what you can do!" That was a Friday. On Saturday night at 5 p.m., I anchored my first newscast. It sort of wasn't fair. I felt like I cheated!

Moral of this story? Had I been a regular Joe and walked in to interview for the job, I probably wouldn't have got it. Lot's of competition. But that little Christmas narration I did on the spur of the moment changed my life completely! SO . . . you never know what little, seemingly inconsequential thing you do can translate into bigger things than you would have ever conceived! I would NEVER have got that job had I not done that fluky thing of making the tape. It was an almost childish thing to do at the time, but something inside me prompted me to just try it.

I got my job as Press Secretary to the Governor in almost the same way. I was a volunteer in his campaign and he vaguely knew me. The day I graduated with my first degree, he was the commencement speaker. After the ceremony I made my way through the crowd just to say hello to him and say, "Remember me?". We had a short conversation and he wanted to know what I would do now that I had my degree and . . . by golly . . . he said, "I need someone like you on my staff." He hired me on the spot! That was a Saturday. On Monday morning, I walked into his office and started a job I had never sought and never dreamed I could get.

All of these words are to simply say . . . (and to prove your point by Gladwell) . . . I got these nice jobs outside of the regular application process because . . . I was in the right place at the right time!!! Of course, my gift of gab didn't hurt, but it's been that way for me in most every job I've ever had. "Happenstance" got me there. Not some kind of grand scheme and/or planning.

I owe my success with this business I started because of Colonel Sanders. Yes, the real one: Kentucky Fried Chicken Colonel Sanders. He spent time with me teaching me how to cultivate business contacts. But that's a story for another day.

Mike in Kentucky