Your neighbour's son is likely going to be quite successful at least on some level, and he may even get to his $1M. "It doesn't mean anything" - the opposite,

Your neighbour's son is likely going to be quite successful at least on some level, and he may even get to his $1M. "It doesn't mean anything" - the opposite, it means a lot, it's 'a (personal) goal' - which is how people focus and motivate themselves. "the rest is basically taking concrete steps and trying stuff out until it sticks." - well kind of. Yes, you have to 'take steps' at some point, but 'what steps?' to 'what end?' etc. etc.. I think it's probably slightly more beneficial to have people focused on growing the pie, and having a nice way to captures surpluses, as opposed to just "I want to make money" but just having the later is a formidable goal.