Had I not become a professional golfer, I think I would have pursued some type of career in aviation.
I don't feel like I should just be a rapper. That's boring to me.
I'm quite sure there are other things that I could have done in life whether it's working for Humana, teaching in college, high school teacher. Coaching stuck.
Like many students, I found the drudgery of real experiments and the slowness of progress a complete shock, and at my low points I contemplated other alternative careers including study of the philosophy or sociology of science.
I'd have been a filmmaker or a cartoonist or something else which extended from the visual arts into the making of narratives if I hadn't been able to shift into fiction.
Being prime minister isn't the only job in life! As far as I'm concerned, I could live in a village and be satisfied.
I don't feel like basketball is the only way to make a living.
I love doing independent films, but it's very hard to make a living that way.
I don't want to inspire the next generation of tight ends or linebackers to play the game. If I could inspire the next generation of architects and technology leaders and writers and illustrators and film directors, then I feel like I have fulfilled my life purpose.
There are a couple things that I could be doing, maybe owning a coffee shop or work in construction, building houses back in Nashville or British Columbia. I've also thought about being a property owner which would give me income and allow me to fix and maintain those properties to keep me busy.
I wanted to definitely be a musician or a good preacher or a heck of a baseball player. I couldn't play ball too good - I hurt my finger, and I stopped that. I couldn't preach, and well, all I had left was getting into the music thing.
I don't really live like a musician myself. I think music is just something that I do, but I'd like to be doing lots of other things. I like to cure all kinds of illness.
I do believe that by virtue of having a volunteer army, you are going to have men and women who decide to serve and others who decide to pursue different careers.
I've always enjoyed acting, but there's a part of me that's shied away from living a celebrity life. I don't feel comfortable being noticed all the time. Sometimes I even fantasize about doing things other than acting. But I can remember being back on set the third day of my latest project and going, "Ahh, this is what I have to do for a living." It's what makes me happy.
That I was not suited to commerce or academic study in no way proves that I should also be unfit to be a painter.
If I wasn't going to be a surgeon, I wanted to be a farmer or grow oranges or something like that. I grow flowers now - orchids. That is something that I find very interesting.
I'll always have acting. But then if I had to choose something else it'd probably be singing or dancing - if I had to. Or maybe, like, designer, like sketching designs.
I had the privilege of being able to choose, or at least have the opportunity to work at, being anything but an actor.
I would advise budding writers some other kind of job, unless they think they're very, very lucky.
While working in advertising, I channelled my creative energy into elaborate escape fantasies: cake making, dog breeding, the Peace Corps.
Man, I don't wanna do what all the other guys do. I don't wanna end up in the booth after the games telling you what I think and talking smack about the guys on the floor when they are a lot better than that. I wanna be different. I don't wanna be known as Commentator Shaq. I wanna be a doctor or something good. I wanna be Dr. Shaq, Officer Shaq, Deputy Shaq.
I knew at university that medicine was just not for me. I saved many lives by not being a doctor!
There's this old saying that, if you aren't particularly gifted in natural sciences, if you don't want to become a teacher or pastor or doctor, and don't know what else to do, then you become a lawyer. But I've never regretted it.
[Referring to public service:] Men can make a living with far more satisfaction and many less wounds to the souls at some other calling.
I'd have worked with an orchestra, been a chef, or a zoo keeper.
