Quote:
Originally Posted by intheireye!
Are you ***** joking?
1) No one knows how they will operate in an unstructured environment?
Orly, and what do you call college exactly?
And I guess we should never open up our own businesses either or rise to a level where someone isnt watching a punch clock for us either...wowza, this is bad thinking.
2) If youre so sad of a person you canot find productive things to do with your time while not slaving for someone elses's profit...well, thats pretty darn sad.
3) Look at the average college male, then look at the average 27-28 yr old white collar male. Not much physically has changed...yet im 100% certain if you control for everything else the working adult will be in moderately worse shape. I myself gained a lot of weight/stopped working out while in the 9-5(misnomer anyway since those who want to get ahead work WAYYY more than this in MOST situations) lifestyle.
Why???
I didnt have time to think about preparing/eating relatively healthy food...I was late for work. I only had a small 1 hour break for lunch...not enough time to really prepare anything unless you work next to a kitchen...so I ate out like almost everyone else, socialized...and networked; all of which were GOOD for my career and bad for me. I was fkn tired when I got home...and I dont naturally operate on a 7:30--11:30 schedule so often times I was sleep deprived.
How again does this help health....
I mean there are plenty of valid arguements for why working is preferrable to playing poker...health is not one of them for the vast majority of people. Take a look at working Americans 35 and older....not exactly paragons of health.
1) College is not anywhere close to being as demanding as an actual job. You can be EXTREMELY lazy in college and still get a very solid GPA. Do you not see how it's a little bit hypocritical to equate the demands of college to the demands of an actual job whilst posting in a thread on the side of 'playing professionally is so much better than any other job'?
2) Nowhere in my post did I ever mention being sad or depressed or anything. I have a good life now and I've had a good life since going pro. However, I do not feel a great sense of accomplishment for my efforts over the past two years; it's just money. It comes down to a question of 'was the money I made worth the things I gave up to pursue this lifestyle?' and the answer for me is "No". I am not sad or depressed, and while the freedom and experiences I've had as a result of my skill are great, I want more for myself than poker can offer.
I do not want to play cards for the rest of my life, and I think most people who have put a substantial amount of time and felt the pressures of playing for a living can relate. One does not have to be sad/depressed in order to want out of the game.
3) The college student vs 27-28yr old is a bad comparison because there are other things that happen which effect their health/eating habits/fitness. For one, 27-28yr olds are far more likely to be in committed relationships rather than college students who are going out and trying to **** a different sorority girl every weekend. It is really easy to get complacent when you are not working to impress somebody/get laid, etc (and let's face it...that's what college is all about).
I just got out of a 3 year relationship (my lack of an actual career was the ONLY thing that divided us). I am in better physical shape 2 months after the break up than I was throughout the past 3 years. The motivations of the average 27-28 year old is vastly different than the motivations of a college student. A job most certainly can have an effect on our eating/fitness habits, but just like poker, it doesn't have to.
When I had a job, I ate super healthy. I prepared my meals the night before, I had 30 minutes for lunch compared to your 1hr, and I rarely ever needed to go to a restaurant. There were lots of people in my office who ordered and picked up food, and we ate together even though I brought mine. Networking and socializing was not an issue, and for those times when I needed to go out to lunch to make a good impression, I did. Most the time I ate very healthy.
I think if you were to take a look at the average professional poker player, you'd see that they are not exactly the paragons of health either. You might look at them and think, "Wow that's pathetic. If I were in their position, life would be so much easier/better and I would make so much out of my time." The problem with the freedom to make your money whenever you want is that you will ultimately deviate from your schedule, and it is very very easy to procrastinate and suddenly realize that you have an "I'll do it later" mentality towards a lot of things that only used to fit into specific time slots when you had more structure/obligations. There is a reason why most poker players are viewed as lazy. It's because it's true. I think the luxury of being allowed to be lazy ultimately breeds laziness in the majority of people.