Getting to the Top

[Trenchcoat]

So this has been preoccupying my thoughts of late. Now there is always something to be said for happyness and enjoying life. In fact I think that is best being at the top of anyone's list but what about getting to the top in terms of being successful at something? I mean being more than just an average Joe knocking around, whether that is coming too in sport, an interest, in business, wealth, professionally, as a politician, etc, etc. Anyone ever thought here about being successful in terms of getting to the top? You know something where you have a Wikipedia page about you sort of level of success. If you think you could have been/be successful to be a somebody lol what do you think it would be?

[Jumper1]

Is this question regarding what one would like to be at the top of, or what they are trying to get to  the top of?

For me :
Racing/jumping motorcycles, then after ,
making speciality performance ones for others to do so?
🤷‍♂️
  The elite  *top* of the world in any sport (business or other endeavor) is quite lofty and I certainly have not achieved that.
I did earn moderate success in that earning a pro athletes license in my field  in the nation, and world.
 Had a  world ranking at one point in the distant past for several years. (Although far  down the list from the top lol I never thought it possible to  get to the point of being ranked at all)

On the negative side that drive and one dimensional dedication  I've paid dearly for my passion of the sport in lost past relationships,  multiple injuries and surgeries, broken back and 30 some other bones, but the moderate success was enough to then later  work within the field in other roles the rest of my life (or at least so far)

As far as my small  tiny biz now, in my field I'm considered by the few who bother knowing about such small niche markets as the top person in it world wide. Its weird to.me actually lol
I get calls from potential customers who state they are star struck and cant believe  they got me on the phone , (had one just earlier in fact) they know what vid they saw me in,or other trivia of my career,its always uncomfortable for me and i.tell them I'm just a guy who  likes to build motorcycles.
It's not much to brag about at all,its pretty easy to be the big fish in a 5 ounce  gold fish bowl.
In the end I do build bikes for the very top world athletes that are known a bit ,even across other sports.or for the companies that they work/endorse  for,honda,red bull.etc
Its fun,but again it's very  very very small.
My current goal is not expansion,or the top*,but simply staying relevant enough to get enough calls for work to pay the bills.
I've been doing it for 25.years now and busier than ever,so who knows.

My other interest as a young man was guitar, and I played in several rock .bands that had moderate local city success, booked weekly,some local radio gigs, some opening act for big name bands
 occassionally   but it was always my secondary interest. It was a blast, but I viewed it as a hobby, and for fun, not a career choice. I used to play for hours daily to get to.that proficiency, I still play some,and can entertain my wife   lol that's
about it. Far far far from.ever thinking of the top*.
But I did  have the experiences a few times of playing to staduim/ arena or huge crowd (even if they were there to see the headliners).

And trenchy , since I know this strikes a chord with you (heh) i did have women tear my shirt off when I was trying to get on stage,so those are.things that I look back on as odd,strange,ridiculous even.  but man what a trip,and I was fortunate to.have  really goofball.experiences in.my life.hahaha


I had a few years of doing other things in my life as well,  and have been on most continents, but those 2 dominated most of my *work/hobby time on this pebble hurtling thru the universe.

Now you know why the screen name, and a lot of other details noone really cares anything about 🤷‍♂️🤣

[Trenchcoat]

Is this question regarding what one would like to be at the top of, or what they are trying to get to  the top of?

For me :
Racing/jumping motorcycles, then after ,
making speciality performance ones for others to do so?
🤷‍♂️
  The elite  *top* of the world in any sport (business or other endeavor) is quite lofty and I certainly have not achieved that.
I did earn moderate success in that earning a pro athletes license in my field  in the nation, and world.
 Had a  world ranking at one point in the distant past for several years. (Although far  down the list from the top lol I never thought it possible to  get to the point of being ranked at all)

On the negative side that drive and one dimensional dedication  I've paid dearly for my passion of the sport in lost past relationships,  multiple injuries and surgeries, broken back and 30 some other bones, but the moderate success was enough to then later  work within the field in other roles the rest of my life (or at least so far)

As far as my small  tiny biz now, in my field I'm considered by the few who bother knowing about such small niche markets as the top person in it world wide. Its weird to.me actually lol
I get calls from potential customers who state they are star struck and cant believe  they got me on the phone , (had one just earlier in fact) they know what vid they saw me in,or other trivia of my career,its always uncomfortable for me and i.tell them I'm just a guy who  likes to build motorcycles.
It's not much to brag about at all,its pretty easy to be the big fish in a 5 ounce  gold fish bowl.
In the end I do build bikes for the very top world athletes that are known a bit ,even across other sports.or for the companies that they work/endorse  for,honda,red bull.etc
Its fun,but again it's very  very very small.
My current goal is not expansion,or the top*,but simply staying relevant enough to get enough calls for work to pay the bills.
I've been doing it for 25.years now and busier than ever,so who knows.

My other interest as a young man was guitar, and I played in several rock .bands that had moderate local city success, booked weekly,some local radio gigs, some opening act for big name bands
 occassionally   but it was always my secondary interest. It was a blast, but I viewed it as a hobby, and for fun, not a career choice. I used to play for hours daily to get to.that proficiency, I still play some,and can entertain my wife   lol that's
about it. Far far far from.ever thinking of the top*.
But I did  have the experiences a few times of playing to staduim/ arena or huge crowd (even if they were there to see the headliners).

And trenchy , since I know this strikes a chord with you (heh) i did have women tear my shirt off when I was trying to get on stage,so those are.things that I look back on as odd,strange,ridiculous even.  but man what a trip,and I was fortunate to.have  really goofball.experiences in.my life.hahaha


I had a few years of doing other things in my life as well,  and have been on most continents, but those 2 dominated most of my *work/hobby time on this pebble hurtling thru the universe.

Now you know why the screen name, and a lot of other details noone really cares anything about 🤷‍♂️🤣

Wow Jumper that's really quite something! Think I've seen that sort of program around on TV where they customise motorcycles, American Chopper or something like that I think it was called. I didn't really watch a lot of it myself as not hugely into motorbikes just kind of strayed across it one day while browsing and watched a bit of it. My brother is more into motorbikes than me, he's got a couple of sports bikes that he used to ride around casually but hasn't done so since he met his other and had kids. Just as well as he came off at least a couple of times so safer without though he still keeps them as he's kind of attached to them.

Myself I've never ridden a bike, I had an urge to in my early to mid twenties but my parents talked me out of it. Think now they were right, it can be pretty dangerous particularly with all these nutters on the road as you're pretty vulnerable on a bike unlike a car. My car of recent I've wondered about whether I should do a pimp my ride kind of thing on it. It's a small quirky car and about ten years old now getting a bit worn but thing it could look pretty good jazzed up. That would cost a bit so not really my top priority but think doing a car to reflect individual personality sounds a cool idea, I used to like that program a lot when it was on MTV. Either that or get a Merc convertible, guess there's nothing to stop me from having two cars so maybe do that lol.

Anyhow, yeah that was exactly the type of stuff I meant so you hit the nail right in the head. Know what you mean that some stuff you just kind of take to and it's really whatever you fall into and if it so happens it's something that's a bit niche then you naturally stand out in it. Myself I'm quite good at design I think, really Architecture design to date as that's what I trained in amongst other stuff. For Architecture design it's not something to easily get to the top in these days, there's no niche for it, the days of Norman Foster are passing. Everyone wants to be the designer whether good or not and so excess supply swamps demand. It's why I just do my own small scale construction/architecture stuff as anything else isn't really worth the hassle.

Other than that one thing I have thought of more about recently is trying shooting. I reckon I could be good at that, I was fortunate in my laser eye surgery leaving me with 20/10 vision, apparently a way better than average outcome, better than the 20/20 vision they aim for. That along with shooting apparently running in the family a little gives me thought that I might be good at it. I might try one of those days out where you can pay to have a go at it. I was thinking of doing it in Ukraine as apparently they do it there but now is not the best time unless I want to end up doing it for real against Ruskies lol.

I guess I just wouldn't mind having a bit of a stab at a claim to fame so to speak. Not sure if I'm the one to put in a lot of time into it though. I've kind of had enough of devoting a lot of time obsessively to something. I've done that a little bit with stuff when younger and think like you found it can be a bit counterproductive in your life. Guess it's what it usually takes to get to the top though so it can be a bit of a 'is it really a good idea to risk sacrificing your life over and end up potentially miserable' kind of thing. I think you're onto a good thing with the motorcycle customisation thing though Jumper, you no doubt enjoy and are good at what you do while at the same time don't have to be at it all the time so winning on both fronts I think there

Did always wonder why you called yourself Jumper, I thought it may be because you had a fantastic Jumper collection

[Chelseaboy]

I just assumed Jumper was a Teleporter...as in the movie 

[Jumper1]

Haha,I remember that movie.

[ML]

I have never considered that I made it to the top.

My main claim to fame is that I advanced quite a bit given that I started much lower than almost anyone I knew and lower than probably anyone here on this forum.

My Father completed 3rd grade and my Mother completed 8th grade.
I was raised in abject poverty, even at a lower level than my Ukrainian wife.  College was virtually unknown, even to any in my extended family, although I had some vague idea that school teachers had gone to college.

Myself, I only completed 10th grade before joining the US Navy the day after I turned 17.  I got to see a lot of the world on two Pacific cruises.

After some encouragement from Naval officers and luck by ending up in California (tuition was $68 per semester at the time) at the end of my enlistment I was able to start (based on SAT and ACT scores) and finish a BS degree.

After getting hired by a 'Big 8' accounting firm (that was a big deal) I went on to become a CPA, Controller and VP of Finance and got my MBA.

Later I tried my hand at university teaching and got a doctoral degree in finance and international business.  This led to consulting assignments where I was able to make good money and (more importantly) be privy to IPOs many of which panned out big time, while others went belly up (of course).  I took a lot of pay in shares of stock for startups rather than cash.  I also had assignments with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Another big piece of luck was when I landed several international project assessment and investment assignments with a major USA bank that allowed me to travel to around 30 countries including several cities in FSU where there were rumored to be some good looking gals.

Again, I don't claim to have made it to the top, but am amazed at how far I progressed from my very low background.

And, as could be expected, no one from my group of school acquaintances in my home town believe what I have achieved; and no one from my current group of business friends believe where I started from !!

[Trenchcoat]

I have never considered that I made it to the top.

My main claim to fame is that I advanced quite a bit given that I started much lower than almost anyone I knew and lower than probably anyone here on this forum.

My Father completed 3rd grade and my Mother completed 8th grade.
I was raised in abject poverty, even at a lower level than my Ukrainian wife.  College was virtually unknown, even to any in my extended family, although I had some vague idea that school teachers had gone to college.

Myself, I only completed 10th grade before joining the US Navy the day after I turned 17.  I got to see a lot of the world on two Pacific cruises.

After some encouragement from Naval officers and luck by ending up in California (tuition was $68 per semester at the time) at the end of my enlistment I was able to start (based on SAT and ACT scores) and finish a BS degree.

After getting hired by a 'Big 8' accounting firm (that was a big deal) I went on to become a CPA, Controller and VP of Finance and got my MBA.

Later I tried my hand at university teaching and got a doctoral degree in finance and international business.  This led to consulting assignments where I was able to make good money and (more importantly) be privy to IPOs many of which panned out big time, while others went belly up (of course).  I took a lot of pay in shares of stock for startups rather than cash.  I also had assignments with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Another big piece of luck was when I landed several international project assessment and investment assignments with a major USA bank that allowed me to travel to around 30 countries including several cities in FSU where there were rumored to be some good looking gals.

Again, I don't claim to have made it to the top, but am amazed at how far I progressed from my very low background.

And, as could be expected, no one from my group of school acquaintances in my home town believe what I have achieved; and no one from my current group of business friends believe where I started from !!

You've done horrendously well for yourself ML, you no doubt put a lot of effort in over a long number of years by the sounds of it. You've had done great assignments along the way with sone top organisations too. You've done really well to come from a poor background and gotten into a position of wealth over time. I think you kind of succeeded at the American Dream by the sounds of it. In the UK such opportunities no doubt exist but are probably rarer than in the US I think it is fair to say. A lot depends on background here on whether someone gains entry. If already from the monied class and went to public (private) school then odds of getting in are almost assured. That or possibly by fulfilling an ethnic or possibly gender minority criteria. Most though won't get a look in if they don't have family connections, etc. They did a TV program on it in the UK a few years ago where they pretty much found that, a lot of ex graduates fortunes lay with whether they had family connections to get them in.

Anyhow it must be good looking back and have had such a sterling career ML. I think you found good fortune in getting in on the ground floor in some of those companies with being paid in shares for their IPO as I guess it only takes being lucky once or a few times and particularly after a few years have passed much wealth can come. Looks like from the outset joining up with the US Navy turned out to be a good move for you. Thank you very much for sharing your story ML it was an interesting one for showing how someone can prosper despite a poor background I think

[Trenchcoat]

Ok, some good contributions so far, really catching fire I think. Anyone else who kind of was getting towards the top in some way at some point?

[Steven1971]

I think the important thing in life is to be happy and content. With a bit more capital you could be a regular on Homes under the Hammer, but you should still have pride in transforming your house.

The social structure of society is a pyramid, so very few get to the top in that sense. I enjoy my job and I have a lot of interests oustide work. I never get bored. I take a certain amount of reflected glory that my son is bilingual in French and English and is learning Latin and German.

If I could write a married report for this site then really my work here on this planet would be done. There really would be nothing left I would strive for - well apart from learning Russian. If i could live another 50 years married to the same woman and I have my books, TV and radio shows, music, podcasts, holidays, Nottingham Forest, family and friends, then for me personally I would have achieved everything I could have wanted.

Just because Mr Musk is billions of times richer than me doesn't make him a billion times happier.

[Trenchcoat]

I think the important thing in life is to be happy and content. With a bit more capital you could be a regular on Homes under the Hammer, but you should still have pride in transforming your house.

The social structure of society is a pyramid, so very few get to the top in that sense. I enjoy my job and I have a lot of interests oustide work. I never get bored. I take a certain amount of reflected glory that my son is bilingual in French and English and is learning Latin and German.

If I could write a married report for this site then really my work here on this planet would be done. There really would be nothing left I would strive for - well apart from learning Russian. If i could live another 50 years married to the same woman and I have my books, TV and radio shows, music, podcasts, holidays, Nottingham Forest, family and friends, then for me personally I would have achieved everything I could have wanted.

Just because Mr Musk is billions of times richer than me doesn't make him a billion times happier.

Yeah, I'm thinking 'Claim to Fame' maybe a more apt title for this thread. I think trying to be the world's richest guy isn't really where it's at, at least not for me nor you of course. Happyness is great in and off itself. I think I guess I was thinking of something where someone stands out at or near the top of their game and a sense of achievement in that. Having a family and children with prospects us of course a great thing.

I think any claim to fame need not be real huge just something where there is something beyond the everyday.

I know both French & German to a very poor level, I have now attained a very poor level in Russian also lol.

It sounds to me like you enjoy your life and it sounds a pretty decent life there's no doubt a lot of people around with far worse. I think if you can find a FSW who is decent then potentially you could have great times together also.