[DanielBMarkham]

I agree with this, mostly, and upvoted it.

But I'd add one note of caution: hang out with people you want to emulate, even if you do a piss-poor job of emulating them.

If you want to learn chess, hang out with chess-players. If you want to learn writing, hang-out with writers. The outstanding members of these communities will always kick your ass when it comes to execution -- that's the nature of large communities.

The real question is whether you can be brutally critical of your work and life and strive to be a top notch player while still having a happy and joyous lifestyle. Some people can. Some people can't. If you can't, then your options become more limited.

I look at it this way: whatever I'm doing, there are lots of people much better than me at it. There are lots of value systems both for and against what I'm doing. It's up to me to chose a value system and honestly learn from the masters to really enjoy life. If I do a half-assed job of either I end up miserable and unhappy.

Hope that made some sense.