FOOLISH Advice: Pick a Passion for Success
The road to hell is paved with good intentions and "passion"...
For a GOOD LIFE - Pick a Problem, not a Passion...
My 3 years onboard the USS Dubuque were as close to being in prison as a fella can get.
Being told when to eat, sleep, shower take a shit...
Having everything you own in space underneath your bunk...
4-hour watches from "balls to 4" (midnight to 4 am) in 4-degree weather in Pohang, Korea. It was so cold we stood on books to keep the cold from the steel deck from freezing our feet.
It sucked.
It sucked so hard...
A sailor had two choices...
Be miserable...
or "embrace the suck" so deep he fell in love with it...
There was no "rah-rah" PICK A PASSION BRO! BS!
Doing only what you're passionate about would get ya Captain's Mass/Court Martial.
Besides...
Passion is a puff of fluffy brain flotsam.
I'm passionate about one thing today...
And it's smelly trash tomorrow.
Don't shoot the messenger or sick Tony Robbins on me... that's the NATURE of passion.
When I tried to "build" a life on passion...my life was like a Jenga game...always toppling over.
Sailors at sea don't have the luxury of denial.
Successful sailors embraced something more permanent than passion to keep us motivated.
Something we could ALWAYS count on!
PROBLEMS!
From morning muster to midnight...
Not a sailor on the ship could escape problems.
Now...
Some squids living in "prison" with nothing to eat but problems get depressed.
They try to "skate" their way through.
With nothing to be "passionate" about they're lost and left to complain about the misery with other shipmates.
But some...
Make friends with their problems.
And like friends, they realize one of their freedoms is to PICK their problems.
I was an electronics tech.
I was trained specifically on crypto comm gear.
But if all the crypto was working and maintained...(no problems)
Then my chief would put me to work chipping paint, or cleaning a head (bathroom) or some other problem I did NOT pick.
Now...
I wasn't particularly PASSIONATE about fixing electronic shit.
I was 18 years old.
But I realized...
I could PICK MY OWN PROBLEMS.
I decided to learn ALL of the electronic equipment on the USS Dubuque.
From sonar to radar...
To IFF (Identification, friend or foe on ships and aircraft)...
I'd read the tech manuals and the schematics on watches.
I'd spend my spare time watching and helping the tech expert whenever something went tits up.
It didn't take long and I pretty much figured most of the equipment onboard out.
Then as technology does...
We started to get new tech.
First, it was electronic GPS...
Guess who they picked to install something new?
ET2 Sago.
The idiot who spent his time looking for more problems.
Then they sent me to Micro, Miniature Electronic Repair school...
Where I got to solder electronic IC chips in so small, we used microscopes.
Was I burning with a hunka hunka passion over soldering shit?
No...
But it sure as hell beat standing watch and pretending to fight fires in the Philippines in 110 heat.
I got to PICK MY OWN PROBLEMS.
Then...
I got what I consider to be a "lucky break."
The Navy decided it was time to install computers on every ship.
They needed someone trained.
It was a 6 week school in San Diego.
My division officer said, "Send Sago to learn the Snap 2".
And they did.
I helped install the first computer system onboard the USS Dubuque.
This changed everything.
Every department including the Captain had a computer terminal.
These first computers broke ALL THE DAMN TIME!
YAY!
I got to know almost EVERYONE onboard.
From the CHENG (Chief Engineer) to the Chaplain.
When their shit broke...
I was their bloke.
Then, my 3 years were coming to an end on the USS Dubuque.
I was 21 years old...
More than anything I wanted to TEACH the Snap 2 to other sailors in San Diego.
I had TWO PROBLEMS.
One, I still had sea duty left and San Diego was a primo shore duty station.
Two, I was "young"...and while there were no "formal" regs about the age of instructors, they preferred them older than a 21-year-old, LOL.
But...
Because I didn't wallow in sorrow about being on a ship and wallowing in misery of my "lack of passion"...
My Captain gave me a letter of recommendation...
And sent it up to the Commander of the Pacific Fleet who gave me a waiver of my sea duty.
HOLY BALLS, I was going to be the youngest instructor yet at AES San Diego. (Advanced Electronic School.)
Fast forward.
When I reported to duty at AES, they still needed to decide what I would teach.
The obvious choice was the Snap 2, but I was sooo wet behind the ears the lead instructor, Chief Vukovic, said, "We have enough instructors."
Another PROBLEM, eh?
So...
I looked around at the computer lab.
They had 3 systems set up for students to learn on...
One of them was tagged "Out of Repair."
I was almost sure I knew why...
"Are you waiting on a hard drive for that one?" I asked.
Chief said, "Yeah. The new one won't come in for a few weeks."
SIDENOTE: There were FOUR 80-meg hard drives in the Snap 2. When they programmed them, they F'd up and put the operating system across all four drives. This meant if you lost one hard drive, the whole system would become inoperable. The hard drives weren't very reliable and they were always back-ordered. HUGE PROBLEM!
I said, "Are the other 3 working? If they are, I can have it back up in 2 hours."
Chief: "Bull shit. It's not possible to run without all 4 drives."
Me: "I figured it out on the Dubuque. Several times."
Chief: "Okay, give it a shot."
In 2 hours with a lot of keyboard clacking and reprogramming, I had the Snap 2 booted up and singing.
Guess who became the youngest Snap 2 instructor at AES San Diego that day?
Problems.
They will always be here.
Our passion is fickle.
We get to pick our problems OR life picks them for us.
We can pick the problem of exercising or the problem of getting fat and out of breath doing the simplest things.
We can pick the problem of learning to get control of cash-producing assets or the problem of calendar hernia from selling our time by the hour.
We can pick the problems of healthy eating or end up picking when we schedule the surgery to have our foot amputated because of diabetes.
Diabetes don't give AF if you're passionate about what you're eating.
Most people ARE more passionate about sugar and sodas than broccoli.
Pick the problem you want!
It's the best life advice the US Navy and the USS Dubuque ever gave me.
Rooting For Ya,
Travis
PS Most of the world chooses the problem of how can I earn a paycheck by selling my time?
After 8 years in the Navy and years of civilian voluntary servitude for a measly paycheck or retainer, I said, “skrew that!”
I vowed to “SERVE NO MASTER!” ever again!
It wasn’t an easy problem to solve.
But choosing MY PROBLEM: How to make an amazing living for myself and family with NO time-sucking clients or bosses ordering me around…
…It was the best problem I ever solved!