It's "follow your bliss" not "follow the sparkles". It's not about avoiding sacrifice -- Americans especially believe that suffering can be avoided and we tend to live our lives on a junk food high -- but finding what makes you happy in the long-term and generally focusing on that. You will sacrifice and suffer a lot in your life, no matter what you do. Running away from it is not the solution. The bliss he's talking about, if you can find it, winds its way like a ribbon through the average day.
Me, for one. My PhD was a lot of work, and the material itself is of very little value, but the things I learned on the way are absolutely invaluable.
I've learned how tell if I'm too tired to work, and techniques for getting me through that. I've learned how to find the most useful things to work on, and how to leverage them into getting the other stuff done as well. I've learning how to organise my time, estimate work to do and how to fit it in. I've learned how to communicate complex technical issues clearly, precisely and for multiple audiences.
The PhD was definitely painful, but equally definitely worth it.
Other exercises teach you similar things. Running a small company, saving a dying company, coaching sports for 10 year olds, and so on. If you use it right, though, school is a great place to learn from your mistakes without it mattering too much.
Possibly even more important, learn from other peoples' mistakes.
