<<Important disclaimer. Be all you can be is the slogan of the US Army, not the Marines. But I thought the titled sounded better this way. Call it editorial license. My sincere apologies to all the offended parties.>>

You can’t “be anything you want to be.”

Pop mantras are dangerous and lead to disappointment. Seriously.

Take for example “All you need is love.” The Beetles sang it, our parents grew up believing it. But try telling that to a hungry child and it rings hollow, doesn’t it?

The other one is “you can be anything you want to be.”

I wanted to be Michael Jordan. I wanted to fly from the free throw line. The reality is that no matter how many hours I practiced, no matter how many times I jumped, I was never going to be able to do what Jordan did. Not possible. That didn’t stop me from playing every day for a decade.

I had never not gotten a job I applied for until RMR. Remote Meter Reading was a company that paid well, and would have been a great part time job. Except that on the qualifying test, I couldn’t match numbers quickly. I had a tiny bit of dyslexia. A career in math was never going to be a reality for me.

Good intentions don’t make up for bad thinking.

You can’t be anything you want to be. But there are something, some unique place, where you can be you and your life will have meaning and purpose.

The key is discovering what that is. Those who discover that early exponentially multiply their satisfaction with life.

You can’t be anything you want to be. I prefer US Army statement. “Be all you can be.” Now that’s possible.