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Working hard without thinking hard doesn't work. Working hard without taking risks doesn't work. Working hard while thinking hard and taking risks has made me

Working hard without thinking hard doesn't work. Working hard without taking risks doesn't work. Working hard while thinking hard and taking risks has made me wealthy. YMMV

fartcannon 7y ago
Yes, our mileages may vary because what you've described could be survivorship bias from a lucky break. And since costs don't scale with wealth, any future risks you take can be absorbed by the original luck.
- jnwatson 7y ago
  Exactly. HN in particular has a strong survivorship bias. Startups in the typical SV sense are not the way to wealth, any more than professional sports. The folks with rare talent, and the folks around them that can glom onto those people, have a small chance of making a lot of money. Everybody else, not so much.
cntainer 7y ago
> Working hard while thinking hard and taking risks has made me wealthy I'm sure there are plenty of people who did the same and failed. There are always many factors to consider but I would say the key one is luck. With a bit of luck you can easily miss one of the others (working hard for example) and still become successful.
- TheAdamAndChe 7y ago
  This is where statistics are important to consider. If you do a task with a 20 percent chance of success but you do it 10 times, your chance of succeeding at least once becomes close to 100 percent. Many people balk at their first or second failure and stop trying, when the key is to keep trying over and over, learning and improving the entire way.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
    Without a safety net, the cost of failure is often too high to not balk at the first or second failure. Those fortunate enough to fall out of the right womb have the privilege of failing many many times without significant consequences.
  - DeepThoughts 7y ago
    The harder you tug on those bootstraps the more likely you are to pull yourself up.
  - bsanr2 7y ago
    >Many people balk at their first or second failure and stop trying Or they run out of time or money.
  - cramey 7y ago
    How many people do you think can afford to fail 10 times?
    - TheAdamAndChe 7y ago
      For a multi-million dollar potential unicorn? Almost nobody even gets one chance. But for a small business started on the side and slowly grown? Anyone middle-class can in the US IMO. You don't need investors or massive loans to start a small business in your free time, just customers that can be earned through word-of-mouth when starting out. Capital grows exponentially, so even small profits can compound into something significant if reinvested.
      - jfk13 7y ago
        You do need enough free time to start said small business, though, as well as enough capital (even if not "massive loans"). For many people those requirements are pretty tough.
        vpEfljFL 7y ago

Working hard without thinking hard doesn't work. Working hard without taking risks doesn't work. Working hard while thinking hard and taking risks has made me wealthy. YMMV

fartcannon 7y ago

Yes, our mileages may vary because what you've described could be survivorship bias from a lucky break. And since costs don't scale with wealth, any future risks you take can be absorbed by the original luck.

jnwatson 7y ago
Exactly. HN in particular has a strong survivorship bias. Startups in the typical SV sense are not the way to wealth, any more than professional sports. The folks with rare talent, and the folks around them that can glom onto those people, have a small chance of making a lot of money. Everybody else, not so much.

cntainer 7y ago

> Working hard while thinking hard and taking risks has made me wealthy I'm sure there are plenty of people who did the same and failed. There are always many factors to consider but I would say the key one is luck. With a bit of luck you can easily miss one of the others (working hard for example) and still become successful.

TheAdamAndChe 7y ago
This is where statistics are important to consider. If you do a task with a 20 percent chance of success but you do it 10 times, your chance of succeeding at least once becomes close to 100 percent. Many people balk at their first or second failure and stop trying, when the key is to keep trying over and over, learning and improving the entire way.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
  Without a safety net, the cost of failure is often too high to not balk at the first or second failure. Those fortunate enough to fall out of the right womb have the privilege of failing many many times without significant consequences.
- DeepThoughts 7y ago
  The harder you tug on those bootstraps the more likely you are to pull yourself up.
- bsanr2 7y ago
  >Many people balk at their first or second failure and stop trying Or they run out of time or money.
- cramey 7y ago
  How many people do you think can afford to fail 10 times?
  - TheAdamAndChe 7y ago
    For a multi-million dollar potential unicorn? Almost nobody even gets one chance. But for a small business started on the side and slowly grown? Anyone middle-class can in the US IMO. You don't need investors or massive loans to start a small business in your free time, just customers that can be earned through word-of-mouth when starting out. Capital grows exponentially, so even small profits can compound into something significant if reinvested.
    - jfk13 7y ago
      You do need enough free time to start said small business, though, as well as enough capital (even if not "massive loans"). For many people those requirements are pretty tough.
      - vpEfljFL 7y ago