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The survivor bias is the most important point here. Many, many, business books fail on this important misunderstanding. I went to a military school where we h
by drblast 16y ago
The survivor bias is the most important point here. Many, many, business books fail on this important misunderstanding.
I went to a military school where we had monthly mandatory lectures by inspirational and successful people. In hindsight, the most startling thing about all of them was that they had nothing in common that you could point to and say, "that's what made them a success." If they did, it wasn't something that many other unsuccessful people didn't also have.
There were a few who admitted that their success was mostly due to other people and luck. Now that I'm older, this rings more true than anything else.
That's not to say that you shouldn't work hard, start your project, and do all the things you think you should to succeed. But realize, despite your best efforts, it just might not work out.
- arn 16y ago"There were a few who admitted that their success was mostly due to other people and luck. Now that I'm older, this rings more true than anything else." While luck and circumstance tends to be a factor, I believe that a different person given the same circumstances might not have succeeded. So, you can't just throw up your hands and suggest that it's out of your control.
- psyklic 16y agoPeople value someone who works hard and is reliable. Even if your project fails, those traits will attract good people to you. Sure, some people are lucky -- but you can always try to maximize your "luck"!
- ams6110 16y agoTo quote Armand Hammer, "When you work seven days a week, fourteen hours a day, you get lucky."
- alex1 16y agoBut, there is something that I'm willing to bet most of these successful people had in common. And that is a definite purpose[1], the ability to ignore what their friends and skeptics thought about whatever they were doing, and persistence. [1] Rarely, this is substituted by insane amounts of luck.