My grandmother worked at the Marshall Space Flight Center. She worked with a lot of engineers. I have always remembered when she told my cousin and I that we should be engineers. Her reasoning was that if you saw a janitor sitting in a chair with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, you pretty much knew he was not working. But, if you see an engineer in the same position, you can not prove he is not working. Now, was she saying she wanted us to sleep on the job? No, of course not. The message was to have a job where you could use your mind. Although I think watching our grandfather work hard every day as a construction foreman may have shaped her opinion. You know what is funny about that? He was the healthiest man I have ever known. Maybe I don't need to be sitting behind a desk with my arms crossed and eyes closed?

For what it is worth, I don't believe that all jobs that use your mind are desk jobs. Some of the smartest people I know have jobs in fields that would be considered "manual" labor. I believe that smart people will always rise to the top no matter what your profession.