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It's really easy: You just need to get very lucky once - After that, the luck will keep coming on its own. Before I got lucky, all my plans were essentially us

It's really easy: You just need to get very lucky once - After that, the luck will keep coming on its own. Before I got lucky, all my plans were essentially useless - But on 12 Jul 2017 at 12:35 PM I got very lucky and now good things keep happening to me. Making plans and being good at something is not that useful. As Woody Allen would say "I'd rather be lucky than good."

1337biz 9y ago
I understand this is not in line with the hn planability mindset, but there is some truth to that stody. I am also follow this idea - you need ambitious projects which have a low predictability of success. But if you try often/hard enough occasionally one actually works out. To me this makes life a lot more exciting than working/achieving small predictable goals. Life is too short to play it save.
- borroka 9y ago
  I agree. When they ask me where I see myself in 5 years, I answer that while I appreciate where the question is coming from, my life was so different since 5 years ago and the changes have been so unexpected, that I would lie to you and myself if I gave you the impression of having any sort of roadmap. Being very competitive and quite unsatisfied is enough for pushing forward.
- cryptica 9y ago
  I don't understand why people down-vote my comments whenever I emphasise the importance of luck in everything. I worked bastard hard for almost 10 years with no social life and was making $0. I'd love to be able to say that it was all hard work and will power that eventually got me though but it just feels like a lie. If I am to really succeed, I'll do it whilst being honest with myself.
ternaryoperator 9y ago
> As Woody Allen would say "I'd rather be lucky than good." That line is generally attributed to pitcher Lefty Gomez. I've mostly heard it used in the context of sports, particularly pitching in baseball.
jeffwass 9y ago
"But on 12 Jul 2017 at 12:35 PM I got very lucky and now good things keep happening to me." What time zone?
schappim 9y ago
So tell us what happened on the 12th!
brad0 9y ago
Agreed. IMO there’s people out there trying every permutation of what could be successful. Some of them are going to be lucky and hit gold. Taleb covers this in one of his books: Fooled by Randomness https://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Markets-Incerto/dp/0812975219 https://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Markets-Ince...

1337biz 9y ago

I understand this is not in line with the hn planability mindset, but there is some truth to that stody. I am also follow this idea - you need ambitious projects which have a low predictability of success. But if you try often/hard enough occasionally one actually works out. To me this makes life a lot more exciting than working/achieving small predictable goals. Life is too short to play it save.

borroka 9y ago
I agree. When they ask me where I see myself in 5 years, I answer that while I appreciate where the question is coming from, my life was so different since 5 years ago and the changes have been so unexpected, that I would lie to you and myself if I gave you the impression of having any sort of roadmap. Being very competitive and quite unsatisfied is enough for pushing forward.
cryptica 9y ago
I don't understand why people down-vote my comments whenever I emphasise the importance of luck in everything. I worked bastard hard for almost 10 years with no social life and was making $0. I'd love to be able to say that it was all hard work and will power that eventually got me though but it just feels like a lie. If I am to really succeed, I'll do it whilst being honest with myself.

ternaryoperator 9y ago

> As Woody Allen would say "I'd rather be lucky than good." That line is generally attributed to pitcher Lefty Gomez. I've mostly heard it used in the context of sports, particularly pitching in baseball.

jeffwass 9y ago

"But on 12 Jul 2017 at 12:35 PM I got very lucky and now good things keep happening to me." What time zone?

schappim 9y ago

So tell us what happened on the 12th!

brad0 9y ago

Agreed. IMO there’s people out there trying every permutation of what could be successful. Some of them are going to be lucky and hit gold. Taleb covers this in one of his books: Fooled by Randomness https://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Markets-Incerto/dp/0812975219 https://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Markets-Ince...