Wow, this is the first chance I've had to look at this thread.
When I first read 250's post, I was laughing out loud, because I thought it was a "joke" thread like Mouse' "What I've learned" thread from a day or so ago. I really enjoyed it.
Then I realized, 250, that you were serious.
I can't really say one way or another, 250, what constitutes "success" for most people. I do know that "smarts" isn't all there is. I would rather be friends with someone who had heart than someone who was smart; although, given my "druthers", I'd take one who had both. However, give me heart over head any day. Now that may be stupid to some, but not to me. I'd rather have someone around who cared deeply and passionately about something, rather than someone who sits back and drily analyzes and dissects something with little or no emotion.
I myself have a Ph.D. in Management Science/Statistical Analysis. I specifically chose NOT to enter the area of university teaching and research because I found it ultimately limiting and unrewarding. One is forced into a life of endless publishing trying to grub to make "tenure", and having to neglect one's teaching functions in the meantime (to the detriment of the students, whom you never get to know or see how you affect them). I gave that up and went to work at a technical institute, for MUCH LESS PAY than I could get as a tenured prof, but because of the other rewards inherent in the job. Our school, International Business School, has a population of students that most would consider to be "high-risk". Most of them are high-school dropouts. We have more students studying for their GED's (General Education Diplomas) than those who have actually graduated high school. Many of them are single mothers with 3+ kids, living at poverty level; some of them in an abusive environment. We can't help everyone, and of every 4 that enter, 1 drops out. But for those 3 that stay...you see a metamorphosis like that from a caterpillar to a butterfly. I see these students come in, dragging, when they first enter school. They look like they have the weight of the world on their shoulders. They look frumpy and dumpy; no one has ever had the courage or the caring to let them know that they can look great. Most of them have self-esteems that are in the toilet. We take these people and educate them, give them job skills, provide a social outlet for them, teach them how to groom themselves and prepare themselves for a job in the workforce. When they cross the stage at graduation, we see beautiful people...people who are proud, who hold their head high, who feel great about themselves for once in their lives. When I can look at the effect that I have had on these human lives and can say to myself, "I helped that person," well, 250, it kind of puts making billions of dollars way back on the back burner.
That is not to say that I am a financial mess. I save money regularly, have a 401K plan through my company, etc., etc. But it isn't the be-all, end-all of my existence.
250, I have a question for you, since you are on the subject of self-improvement. Why did the poll on "stats" in User Created Polls offend you so much? The answer to that may be a telling insight on what's bothering you within. Just a thought.
Cheers,
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