Why You Might Be Envious of the Wrong People

Being from Milwaukee, I’ve been a Prince Fielder fan for a long time. So when we found out he was going to be leaving us, it was a pretty sad day. Prince brings a little bit of fun to the league without coming across like a huge jerk that so many other professional sports players do.

Yesterday, it was announced that he had signed with the Detroit Tigers for 9 years and a staggering $200+ million. Disregarding the argument of whether or not he’ll be worth that kind of money to a team, I was happy for him.

And yet, when you ask around, or you log onto Facebook, you start seeing the same old clichés:

  • “Geez, I could use that kind of money!”
  • “I’m in the wrong line of work!”
  • “All that money to play a game…”

And so on.

But while I agree that athletes make more money than they are worth, I am not envious of them. Think of what that money means for a player like Prince Fielder:

  • Every move he makes in public, and every comment he makes to someone is scrutinized.
  • He is on the road and away from his family for over 200 days a year, not including practices, spring training, media appearances, and spokesperson deals.
  • He works a lot of nights.
  • He will miss a lot of family holidays – many athletes do. Want to spend Christmas with your family? If you’re in the NFL or the NBA, you likely won’t.
  • He is constantly showering with a bunch of other guys.
  • He takes a lot of risk – if you break your leg, you might be off from work for a little bit. If he breaks his leg, he could risk losing his entire career, depending on the nature of the injury.

I don’t even have kids of my own yet, and I can see why that life would suck. What about you? If you are at all close with your family, you’re going to be kinda miserable.

There is probably a segment of you saying, “So what? I wouldn’t mind the travel, and I’d love that kind of lifestyle!” Well, you’re probably not walking around telling people that he’s overpaid, either.

When we’re unhappy about where we are in life, we tend to be quick to point fingers at people who are somehow making our lives worse. And yet, the heads of corporations are powering industries that make our lives easier – and I’d argue better – every single day. Heck, even pro athletes are powering industries that make our lives better: without the players, we wouldn’t have games to go to or watch on TV with friends and family. We wouldn’t have that escape where we can cheer and boo who we want.

We get so focused on what we don’t have that we ignore what others don’t have, either. I’m sure Prince Fielder is happy, and he loves playing the game of baseball for a living, even if it comes with some lousy parts. He’s willing to make the sacrifices necessary to bring in that kind of dough.

Do you want to make your life better? Is there some aspect of your life that could be improved? If so, you’ll have to make other sacrifices to get there. If you’re not willing to do that, just shut your mouth and get back to work. Whining isn’t going to do anything but make everybody else cranky too.

Conquering Europe and Professional Freedom: A Look Ahead to 2012

So, 2012 is upon us, hey? After jotting down my thoughts on 2011, I really wanted to spend some time looking ahead to this new year. In fact, I’ve been downright excited to write this post. So then, it figures that I start having problems with the site that I have to address before I…

Wait, is there something wrong with the site?

Nope, there isn’t. We switched servers this week, and I’m still ironing out the kinks. In fact, I have to redo all of the subscriber forms and stuff – so it’s getting better. In other words, within the next 24 hours, we’ll have the site back to normal, and the subscriber button on the right…

Trips, Meetups, and Burning Feet: My 2011 Annual Review

So Chris Guillebeau says that an annual review can be a great exercise to go through – take inventory of your past year’s successes and failures – so that’s what I’m doing here. Because I didn’t take meticulous notes over the past year, I decided to look through my tweets of the year (the last…

Go Home and Get Better

“We talk all the time, toughness is doing the right thing in life. That is what we talk about. If that is the case, you are being provoked, this or that, true toughness, you walk away from it. You take your ass whipping and you go home. You get better.” – Mick Cronin, Basketball Coach,…

About Tom
Tom is an entrepreneur and freelance writer, working out of his apartment full-time, or wherever he feels like taking his laptop. He doesn't take long European vacations or blogs on the beach. He's an Average Joe that took control of his life. He wants you to do the same.
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