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I agree. I worked hard as a waiter, hard as an Uber driver, hard as a construction worker. Then I got incredibly lucky (repeatedly) and now I make pretty decent
by newbie789 5y ago
I agree. I worked hard as a waiter, hard as an Uber driver, hard as a construction worker. Then I got incredibly lucky (repeatedly) and now I make pretty decent money doing a job in which I decidedly do not work hard at all.
I spent a lot of time reading (easy), some time developing social skills (somewhat difficult but not work), then got an opportunity (the exact opposite of hard) and it worked out.
I agree that there’s no substitute for hard work. It’s its own thing. I disagree that it has some sort of inherent moral value or virtue, as far as I can tell that’s a line invented by management to make you feel better about not receiving a tiny fraction of the money you generate for your company.
- WalterBright 5y ago> not receiving a tiny fraction of the money you generate for your company I recommend starting your own business, where you get to keep 100% of the profit.
- newbie789 5y agoThat’s what I’ve done, after lots of good luck!
- WalterBright 5y agoI bet you're working harder and longer at your own business than you ever did as a waiter.
- newbie789 5y agoI literally do not. That was my point. Edit: To clarify, seriously no I do not “work hard.” Running my business is so, so much easier than building a deck or carrying sliding glass doors on my back 4+ stories. I got lucky in that I found myself in a situation where I fell ass-backwards into a bunch of clients wanting something that I can do easily (general IT and website stuff) that I learned as a kid (stuff I learned while also not doing hard work.) I am literally just lucky.
- WalterBright 5y agoBut you took the time to learn general IT and website stuff. That's working smart.
- newbie789 5y agoI was lucky that my childhood interests gave me a basic skill set that aligned with an opportunity that I got through no effort of my own aside from coincidentally making friends with some very helpful people entirely on accident. I also got lucky with personal issues like addiction support and housing. There’s literally nothing about me that’s special, least of which my work ethic. I’m very happy about where I’m at in life but I have no illusions about how I got here. I wasn’t born remotely wealthy and didn’t have all the advantages that many others have but I did not get to where I am through “hard work.” I got lucky. I have friends that are smarter than me, harder workers, more creative, more entrepreneurial, better communicator, etc that have had a worse professional experience than I have. I literally just met the right people at the right time. The only contribution that I can seriously point to that I did objectively was just being a nice person at the right time in the right room, without knowing what was going on.
- WalterBright 5y agoThere's a system to being lucky. It's building your talent stack, and putting yourself in situations where luck can find you. > I was lucky that my childhood interests gave me a basic skill set Normal childhood interests can lead to lucrative careers, if one decides to follow those interests. These days, that's only a google search away.
- newbie789 5y agoThere is no system to being lucky. I’ve always found it odd when people say things like that because I’ve personally experienced luck strictly as “completely unpredictable outcomes that are either favorable or not.” You don’t make luck. Luck happens to you.