What we don’t see in the episode is that Q does the same thing to ensign Picard and he is like: “This sad and lonely fellow would be me if I sacrificed everything for my career?”

Ensign Picard living his best life, until he dies at Wolf-359.

Makes me think of the plot from The Office when Michael had a telemarketing job and seemed so much happier when he was one of the underlings instead of the guy at the top.