[pizzafeelsright]

Being the Grand OP I suppose I can jump in with some thoughts after reading and skimming the thread.

The teacher (Mr. R) was a math teacher. He lived in his bubble and my guess is he had no children, or no boys. I had excessive mental energy without a proper outlet or direction. I managed to change every Apple 'error' sound to an annoying rendition of his name (Mr.R) would ring out on every computer until it was corrected.

While I may have been smarter and more talented than him - I was not above him in any respect during school. He had more experience and grounding in life - of which he offered me zero.

In hindsight I wish he did the following, which is how I behave today with others; ask hard questions and give them direction to meet their goals.

I do not blame my parents for their inability to see I was in the top 2% of intelligence. I cannot blame the teacher really either. Each of us have potential to be wonderful at something. We need to learn what it is and have the ability to use our talent. I finally learned my talent despite my desire for status. I ignored status, adopted the idea that I need to to develop my talent, and it has now paid off dividends.

Being happy is actually very simple, just not easy. Do the things that make you happy.

[threethirtytwo]

>I do not blame my parents for their inability to see I was in the top 2% of intelligence.

Bro. Is this not status seeking? This statement is arrogant. But it could be true.

>I ignored status, adopted the idea that I need to to develop my talent, and it has now paid off dividends.

What sort of dividends? I bet you it's related to higher status.

>Being happy is actually very simple, just not easy. Do the things that make you happy.

In a way you're right. It's paradoxical because of the human drive for status. Gaining high status involves a lot of stress and activities that don't inherently make someone happy. It's a competitive world for a high status position.

Not competing is low stress and involves many behaviors that make you happy. But ironically while one part of you is happy, another part of you is unhappy because you are aware of your low status.

So people usually choose a middle ground. Everyone basically seeks status to some form or degree, it is fundamentally impossible to have this status seeking be absent. The person I'm talking with more likely meant that he... like many people ... compromised on status.

[pizzafeelsright]

I would assume it is not true and yet I say I am 6'5" you believe me?

We could debate the idea of status, happiness, and motives although we would split ideas into atoms until there is nothing of substance to discuss.

I will answer your question: What sort of dividends - at one point I wanted a specific title, degree, job type until a discussion and decision I had one day that lead me to take a different approach. There are many exercises that determine your true motive. You are offered a job at 4x your income. No one will know your name and your work has no value outside of income. Would you take it? You are offered your dream job, title, schedule, etc at 50% of your current income. Would you take it? Once you find the combination of values in the equation you discover what makes you happy. Me: No stress. Work from home. Using my skills at least 50% of the time. Zero tracking of hours.