A Sincere Way To Succeed

How I Sacrificed Everything This World Calls Secure For Success in Life

A little over ten years ago, a dear friend gave me some of the best advice I’ve ever received, if in a near cryptic and daunting manner.

“Herbie,” he said, “I’d rather see you move back to Los Angeles, work your ass off, strive to be the best you could be, sacrifice everything you’ve ever known, and never succeed, then stay in Rochester and rot.”

I told you it was cryptic and daunting.

But it was also eye-opening, sincere, motivating and smacked of the truth.

At the time, in January of 2009, my Mom had passed away a few months before. I had served as her caregiver for more than 13 years, after the death of my father, for whom I also served as a caregiver in the last stages is life. He succumbed to lung cancer in April of 1995. My Mom died from complications of Alzheimer’s and heart disease.

It was all horrible. As any caregiving relative or friend will explain, watching those close to you slip away on any consistent basis, whether physically or psychologically, is heartbreaking and exhausting on every emotional and practical level.

And let me be clear: there were no massive financial stakes at hand here. There was no estate to inherit, no annuities, no dividends, no homes, no…