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Bill gates was known for sleeping under desks at the office and didn’t really take a vacation till he was 30. I’m not sure why you’d use him as an example that

Bill gates was known for sleeping under desks at the office and didn’t really take a vacation till he was 30. I’m not sure why you’d use him as an example that hard work doesn’t pay off.

SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
Even with those stories it's more of an example of survivorship bias than him earning his immense wealth. There is no actual link between "sleeping under your desk" and "becoming a billionaire".
- jdsully 4y ago
  It’s definitely not sufficient for success but it is often a necessary precondition. People get caught up on the randomness, but hard work increases the number of dice rolls you can get in life. I’ve seen it pay off many times (and I’ve also seen it fail completely)
  - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
    That's true, but for his level of success that's arguing you should buy two lottery tickets instead of one because it greatly increases your odds of winning.
    - FredPret 4y ago
      If his level of wealth is your definition of success, it’ll do everyone a disservice. Working hard will dramatically increase the odds of an acceptable or good outcome where you are upper-middle class or have a couple of mil and are retired comfortably. An outcome where you have 100B+ is such an outlier, there can be no general advice on how to do it.
      - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
        The original poster I'm commenting about says: "Success, even if you have a leg up or game the system, does require a lot of effort and sacrifice, but I think if we had more integrity around the other pieces of the puzzle, it would drastically change how we view success in this country." and this is huge. As a software dev I don't work nearly as hard as I did when I was a cook, but I know which one I'm far more successful at, and I know that there was no way my work as a cook would have put me into upper-middle class territory, even though I spent 6 days a week sweating.
        FredPret 4y ago
        It sure isn’t the only requirement!

Bill gates was known for sleeping under desks at the office and didn’t really take a vacation till he was 30. I’m not sure why you’d use him as an example that hard work doesn’t pay off.

SketchySeaBeast 4y ago

Even with those stories it's more of an example of survivorship bias than him earning his immense wealth. There is no actual link between "sleeping under your desk" and "becoming a billionaire".

jdsully 4y ago
It’s definitely not sufficient for success but it is often a necessary precondition. People get caught up on the randomness, but hard work increases the number of dice rolls you can get in life. I’ve seen it pay off many times (and I’ve also seen it fail completely)
- SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
  That's true, but for his level of success that's arguing you should buy two lottery tickets instead of one because it greatly increases your odds of winning.
  - FredPret 4y ago
    If his level of wealth is your definition of success, it’ll do everyone a disservice. Working hard will dramatically increase the odds of an acceptable or good outcome where you are upper-middle class or have a couple of mil and are retired comfortably. An outcome where you have 100B+ is such an outlier, there can be no general advice on how to do it.
    - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
      The original poster I'm commenting about says: "Success, even if you have a leg up or game the system, does require a lot of effort and sacrifice, but I think if we had more integrity around the other pieces of the puzzle, it would drastically change how we view success in this country." and this is huge. As a software dev I don't work nearly as hard as I did when I was a cook, but I know which one I'm far more successful at, and I know that there was no way my work as a cook would have put me into upper-middle class territory, even though I spent 6 days a week sweating.
      - FredPret 4y ago
        It sure isn’t the only requirement!