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That was a nice read, thanks! In general, I don't know how I feel about these articles, they seem to be trending among my Twitter friends. I know that these in

That was a nice read, thanks! In general, I don't know how I feel about these articles, they seem to be trending among my Twitter friends. I know that these interviews are meant as an encouragement. To show that even the great people of our field had to struggle, so we should not give up when we are still struggling. However, these stories can also be understood negatively - if you didn't make it, you probably did not work or try hard enough. What makes this effect stronger is the selection bias - we do not see articles of the other 99% that work their tails of and do not become big in their fields. With a society that focuses on being the best, 'making it', etc. it leaves a lot of people feel inadequate, incompetent, or even depressed, even when they are big net contributors to society. E.g. think of the 50-year old professor a moderately successful academic career. He/she is educating hundreds of students and having a big positive impact on their lives. But they are seen by others and themselves as failed academics who were not good enough to make it. (I don't know what the solution is.)

AndrewKemendo 8y ago
Well there isn't a solution because the metrics for "failure" and "success" are fuzzy. In my mind, someone is a "success" if they accomplish the challenge of being the person they see themselves as/want to be. It's way harder than it sounds. So while there are certainly some people who, as Pickard said "made no mistakes but still lost," there are others who didn't put in sufficient effort and failed as a result. I'd imagine that there are more in the latter camp than in the former. In your example, the professor is only a failure if their goal was something other than moderately successful academic.
- tonyedgecombe 8y ago
  I suspect the whole goal thing is a problem, setting some specific outcome you expect to reach when you have no idea what obstacles you might face on the way is setting yourself up for failure.
  - AndrewKemendo 8y ago
    Indeed! Goal setting is one of the most complex tasks we do. Doing it successfully, defined as a measurable outcome, requires that you have a pretty accurate assessment of both the landscape, your abilities and the path to achieve the goal - with some factor considered for deviation from the charted path. Depending on the scope of goal, the confidence interval on probability of success probably decreases exponentially with respect to time.
    - danieldk 8y ago
      Doing it successfully, defined as a measurable outcome, requires that you have a pretty accurate assessment of both the landscape, your abilities and the path to achieve the goal - with some factor considered for deviation from the charted path. I agree, but for longer term goals, an extremely large amount of luck involved. Sometimes the right opportunities and persons just line up. I often realize that I'd be in a completely different (and probably worse) place if my 22 and 26-year old self didn't encounter the right persons and opportunities. My current career path was largely unplanned, but is better than I hoped for or planned when I was in my early to mid-20ies.
deleted 8y ago
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RobertRoberts 8y ago
>(I don't know what the solution is.) Is it possible that stories like this are supposed to affect everyone differently? -#1 Take it as encouragement => succeed, and be "happier", and share the success. -#2 Take it as encouragement => Fail (and possibly move on to something more appropriate for you, and you are all the wiser for it) -#3 Take it negatively => Quit at something and move on to something else. (see #2) -#4 Take it negatively => Succeed anyways despite the negativity (see #1) Maybe I missed an idea here, but how could it hurt anyone to share this information? -#1 Take it as encouragement => But fail excessively the rest of your life? -#2 Take it negatively => Give up and never try again? It seems the positive outcomes outweigh the negative. And the negative outcomes don't seem reasonable to blame on an article.

AndrewKemendo 8y ago

Well there isn't a solution because the metrics for "failure" and "success" are fuzzy. In my mind, someone is a "success" if they accomplish the challenge of being the person they see themselves as/want to be. It's way harder than it sounds. So while there are certainly some people who, as Pickard said "made no mistakes but still lost," there are others who didn't put in sufficient effort and failed as a result. I'd imagine that there are more in the latter camp than in the former. In your example, the professor is only a failure if their goal was something other than moderately successful academic.

tonyedgecombe 8y ago
I suspect the whole goal thing is a problem, setting some specific outcome you expect to reach when you have no idea what obstacles you might face on the way is setting yourself up for failure.
- AndrewKemendo 8y ago
  Indeed! Goal setting is one of the most complex tasks we do. Doing it successfully, defined as a measurable outcome, requires that you have a pretty accurate assessment of both the landscape, your abilities and the path to achieve the goal - with some factor considered for deviation from the charted path. Depending on the scope of goal, the confidence interval on probability of success probably decreases exponentially with respect to time.
  - danieldk 8y ago
    Doing it successfully, defined as a measurable outcome, requires that you have a pretty accurate assessment of both the landscape, your abilities and the path to achieve the goal - with some factor considered for deviation from the charted path. I agree, but for longer term goals, an extremely large amount of luck involved. Sometimes the right opportunities and persons just line up. I often realize that I'd be in a completely different (and probably worse) place if my 22 and 26-year old self didn't encounter the right persons and opportunities. My current career path was largely unplanned, but is better than I hoped for or planned when I was in my early to mid-20ies.

deleted 8y ago

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RobertRoberts 8y ago

>(I don't know what the solution is.) Is it possible that stories like this are supposed to affect everyone differently? -#1 Take it as encouragement => succeed, and be "happier", and share the success. -#2 Take it as encouragement => Fail (and possibly move on to something more appropriate for you, and you are all the wiser for it) -#3 Take it negatively => Quit at something and move on to something else. (see #2) -#4 Take it negatively => Succeed anyways despite the negativity (see #1) Maybe I missed an idea here, but how could it hurt anyone to share this information? -#1 Take it as encouragement => But fail excessively the rest of your life? -#2 Take it negatively => Give up and never try again? It seems the positive outcomes outweigh the negative. And the negative outcomes don't seem reasonable to blame on an article.