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Young people tend to severely underestimate how much luck and timing play into success. When I read, "When I was in 9th grade...and Googled..." I realized why
by drblast 11y ago
Young people tend to severely underestimate how much luck and timing play into success.
When I read, "When I was in 9th grade...and Googled..." I realized why the article sounded like it did.
- minikites 11y agoI had an identical reaction. I'd like to think I'm above simple agism but someone who is 29-31 years old dropping life lessons seems hollow.
- rawnlq 11y agoI was curious about his background and started googling him: http://www.jameskoppel.com/bio.html http://www.jameskoppel.com/bio.html. He was a Thiel fellow in 2012 so he was less than 20 yrs old then. He is at most 23 yrs old now.
- tbrownaw 11y agoI saw some discussion about corporate onboarding recently, apparently the best person to help the new hire get onboarded is the person who was most recently onboarded themselves. Maybe something similar applies to adult (or almost-adult) life?
- vanattab 11y agoI don't think so. The reason a recent hire is well suited to onboarding a new hire is because process of onboarding is very dynamic and changing and its a one time or at least rare thing in the life of an employee. The onboarding process the new employee is going to go through is likely completely different from what a employee might have gone through 15 years ago but is probably almost identical to want someone hired 15 days ago went through. It seems silly to me to compare who is best at providing help to complete a single, short, well defined task to who may be best at advising how to live a happy productive adult life. How could a fresh 18 year old adult possible give advice on how to balance your work and family life? Edit: Now if you were to narrow the question to: What age of adviser is best for assisting a young high school grad with their transition to college life such a comparison might be more meaningful.
- tbrownaw 11y agoBeing around 30 gives more-or-less a decade of experience at being an adult. Which is plenty of time to get your 10k expertise hours in if you haven't been completely slacking off the whole time.
- minikites 11y agoYou know the whole 10,000 hours thing is made up bullshit right?
- tbrownaw 11y agoYep. :)
- JustSomeNobody 11y agoWhich is pretty much what people do in their twenties.
- mahyarm 11y agoA 30 year old will probably give better life advice to a 15yo than a 60yo for example. I think it's about relevant experience at your level.
- mmatants 11y agoIn fact, the secret of the not-as-young people is to manufacture the luck as much as they can and increase exposure to serendipity through consistent - well - showing up. And behind most lucky youngsters are diligent parents and support networks that know this lesson and apply it to their offspring, even if the offspring stay unaware.
- Ollinson 11y agoI've heard this quote before in various forms but I don't like it. The luck applies to those who are already doing everything right. The other people are "failures" because you can pinpoint where they were deficient. When I think about luck and success I picture a pool of highly educated, ambitious, type A people. Why does one of them become an industry tycoon billionaire while the others become merely wealthy? You can manufacture luck for the latter but not the former.
- ska 11y ago"manufacture the luck" If you can manufacture it, it isn't luck, period. And you need some luck to succeed. Your broader point stands though, you miss 100% of the opportunities you didn't show up for.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- kylnew 11y agoI think the idea is more like that saying "Opportunity is a meeting of luck and preparation". So maybe it's more like 'manufacture opportunity' by constantly showing up prepared.
- ska 11y agoI like that much better. Luck is when things fall out better than you could reasonably have expected. Opportunities are something you can work for.
- michaelbuddy 11y ago