I've been out of money and desperate at various times. It sucks. But if you point the blame only outwards, you're very likely to remain broke and desperate.

Own everything. Take all responsibility for everything that happens to you, even if it wasn't your fault. This leads to some instant satisfaction in terms of feeling more in control of your life. And long term, you do a hell of a lot better.

I try to own everything, even if it wasn't my fault. Especially if it wasn't my fault.

Exactly, the moment when you realize that 99% of bad things that happen to you or success you're NOT getting are directly or indirectly the result of you putting yourself in that situation is the moment you become free.

Have you ever read up on ILOC and ELOC? I'm not sure if it's just pop psych but I found it a good example to explain to people the importance of owning your life and outcomes.

Basically people with a high internal locus of control drive change and own the outcomes (good or bad). People with an external locus of control accept change and blame external factors for the outcomes. Distinct difference in the happiness / satisfaction between the groups, if I recall correctly.

Blame the poor for being poor?

Including the death and/or injuries of loved ones? i.e. you were driving, got T-boned, now your sister can't walk?

I know people that's happened to, and they tend to "own it," and I'm not sure that's healthy,

Apparently you're choosing not to answer me - which is fine - but just know that I wasn't trolling. I was honestly curious how far you take that attitude.

The author does have ambition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ventura

He's a successful author and columnist. Hopefully, this now gives him the right to say a lot of low-paying jobs are shitty ones that barely treat you as a human being, and not everyone is able to work their way through them, despite how much fortitude they may otherwise have.

This thread is full of ridiculous ad hominems. I don't think your comment even makes any sense. So you both used to work a string of dead-end jobs. While you're willing to note that you, yourself, ended up becoming an entrepreneur, you're not willing to grant this author the same possibility that perhaps he simply started out with a poor lot in life like yourself, and ended up also working his way up.

"That's not the career path of someone who has any direction or ambition"

This is essentially a veiled ad-hominem attack. You don't know the author's motivations or reasons for taking these jobs. You can't a priori assume that he took these jobs because he's lazy and unmotivated.

This is a straw man attack. Lack of direction, and ambition doesn't mean lazy or unmotivated. His job choices show lack of direction, with the random job walk he has done so far he certainly isn't moving in one direction. Same with ambition there doesn't seem to be any greatness seeking in his job selection.

Again - you don't know what his internal process was for picking these jobs. You can't mind read and impute motivations for his selections.

And no, it's not a strawman. Lack of direction, lack of ambition, lazy, unmotivated. See how they all go together?

"Again - you don't know what his internal process was for picking these jobs. You can't mind read and impute motivations for his selections."

Well, it's obviously not working for the guy. He has clearly voiced his dissatisfaction with his life, which includes the jobs that he has taken. Someone that is doing what they love, even if it isn't making that much money, will be happy.

"Well, it's obviously not working for the guy. He has clearly voiced his dissatisfaction with his life, which includes the jobs that he has taken."

Yes, but it does not follow that he is therefore directionless or lacks ambition. Plenty of successful doctors and lawyers have the same problem.

"Someone that is doing what they love, even if it isn't making that much money, will be happy."

Over simplification. I have known numerous people who loved what they where doing without being very happy about the things that came along with that. Artists, musicians, teachers. Just because you love what you do doesn't automatically make you happy, believe it or not.

"Plenty of successful doctors and lawyers have the same problem."

Taking random jobs to put yourself through medical school is much different than taking random jobs with seemingly no direction. If he does have some ambitious life goals, he doesn't make it very apparent in this article.

"I have known numerous people who loved what they where doing without being very happy about the things that came along with that."

If you are doing what you claim to love, yet you hate everything that comes along with it..I don't think you are doing what you really love.

I suppose from the article, we can surmise that the author loves being a hospital orderly or the guy that runs the drive-thru at jack-in-the-box and is just unhappy about the things that come with it. Right?

What on earth is this? Nothing you said follows from, or was implied by, anything in the post you're responding to. The whole thing is a big non-sequiter.

Lazy and unmotivated are about his internal state, which you correctly point out we don't know. Lack of direction and ambition are observations of exterior actions. He is not moving in a direction, so we can say he lacks direction. He doesn't seek to be great or even good at anything so he lacks ambition. In making those two observations we have not ascribed any reason why he lacks ambition or direction. So complaining about people not knowing his motivations when we are talking about his actions not his motivations, is in fact a straw man.

Ambition is a personality trait, just like laziness and motivation. Your definition of the word is hella nonstandard. You can have internal ambition without there being a noticeable external effect, due to things like lack of opportunity, poor health, children, ignorance about what opportunities are present, and so on and so forth.