I don’t really remember when the idea came to me. I think it was a glimpse I once got as a little kid of a story about a man that had been a doctor, then became a lawyer then became eventually an Astronaut. I remember even though I may have been 8 or 9, how amazed I was upon hearing this story.

This did not sound like the typical one job, one career for a lifetime stories I had heard all around me. Like my Dad, working for the same company for 34 years. Or my Uncles, that had been working for the same company for 25 years and 28 years etc.

 I was fascinated with the idea that you can break the mold of elapsed time and fit into this life more experiences and chapters than most. It struck a chord in me and although not at those high levels of profession, I tried to emulate the life segmentation that this Astronaut/Scientist had accomplished.

I don’t remember who the Astronaut was. It was something I either heard in school or on TV somewhere. I’m sure if someone researched it, he could be identified rather easily. The thing is that on some subconscious level, this left an imprint in my mind, about what is possible. It helped me think outside of the box to some extent. To not think of life so much as linear …High school, college, career, retire. It allowed me to think in terms of life blocks or chapters. That there are no rules, you can have multiple careers in this lifetime. Start non-traditionally aspects of your life that should have been reserved for other stages. Like going back to college at 60. Having children at 57. Starting a new business at 70. Becoming a Doctor after retirement. Starting a company at 12. Retiring by 25. There are case studies of people doing all of these things.

 With human beings living longer and science actually allowing us to be stronger in our later years, you can chart a course for your life that is unchartered. For me it meant that I saw jobs as a buffet of experiences that I wanted to have. Fantasies that I wanted to live out, regardless of pay scale or career opportunity. Like being a Newspaper Publisher for “awhile” after I was inspired by Citizen Kane, or becoming a Radio Personality after my idol Howard Stern, and Traveling the country as a high powered consultant to small business in the tradition of many Executive movies that I admired. I could not do it very long, because I missed my wife and kids terribly, but at least for 1 year I fulfilled my fantasy. Besides, The longer I stayed in any one reality for too long, kind of defeated the purpose of the lifetsyle. I did not want to get "cooked in the squat" as my good friend Zig Zigler says.

 My family, says that I am crazy for doing this. One minute I am a 6Figure Executive and the next minute, I’m running a friends Pizza Shop in Brooklyn for a few months. Hey, I wanted to make pizza. It’s something that I always wanted to do, so I did it. Career Path, way off the beaten path. But my path. I’ve learned a lot, I have never sold out and I would not trade the experiences for anything in the world.

Sure, sometimes the competition seems like it’s gaining on me. The story of the tortoise and the hare, they stay put, so they plod steadily along the same track and eventually run beside me, then I take off down another road and leave the race for a while. Only time will tell, if my whims will be the ruin of me. But in the meantime, to my own self I have remained true…and I sure have a lot of stories to tell.

So I say, what the hell, you only have one life to live. What else are we here for than to experience all that we can? As a Beautiful, Russian Blonde once whispered in my ear, while smoking a cigarette in a Limo on the way back from a convention…”There is nothing sadder than a healthy corpse.”