4 ms·

This is a testament to how much weight luck holds in achieving a successful career, and how one's life is largely governed by people's whims and general arbitra

by ruswick 14y ago

This is a testament to how much weight luck holds in achieving a successful career, and how one's life is largely governed by people's whims and general arbitrariness. (This is true not only due to people taking chances on others, but because people are born into situations that govern their capacity for success. Malcolm Gladwell demonstrates this wonderfully in Outliers, a book that has had a large impact on me and which I recommend to everyone I can. But I digress.) It's actually somewhat disconcerting to consider.

bearmf 14y ago
Very true. Most "took a chance on me" stories are also biased towards people at the start of their careers. Many older unemployed people desperately need someone to take a chance on them.
redschell 14y ago
It's definitely a bit disconcerting, but perhaps not in the way you mean. I'm not so worried about failing to achieve my dreams because I didn't get lucky. I'm worried I'll fail and never know if I failed because I was unlucky, or because I just wasn't good enough. That's what makes me uncomfortable. I get over it pretty quickly, but it's still unsettling, if only for a moment.
sayemm 14y ago
Well, then, like anything else, you maximize your chances of success and having a few lucky breaks by: (a) having a long time horizon, developing expertise, and sticking with it, (b) simply going up to bat more and taking more and more chances (e.g. "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take"), and (c) learning from failure/mistakes and rebounding from it. At first glance, his post reads like he had one lucky break after another after another, but I'm sure the road felt very shaky and uncertain along the way, and he doesn't mention any of his mistakes/failures and I'm sure he made several (it just wasn't the point of the post). Max Levchin endured 3 failures early on, and then he had this chance encounter with Peter Thiel before founding PayPal: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1022 http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1022
- simondlr 14y ago
  I'd like to add to this. One thing Jack Dorsey said (paraphrasing here) in his interview with Kevin Rose (in Foundation series), is that he wishes he is fortunate to realise an opportunity when it presents itself. To me that means 2 things: seeking out and creating opportunities. Build stuff, meet people, take risks and chances. This increases the chances of opportunities (luck) happening: Meeting that perfect co-founder, stumbling onto a brilliant idea, finding the right investors, etc. Then secondly, you have to practice to be open-minded enough to realise that when an opportunity actually arrives, you know it is one! You might seek and create opportunities as much you want, as most of it ends up being luck, but if you don't realise that luck, you've missed the boat.

by ruswick 14y ago

bearmf 14y ago

Very true. Most "took a chance on me" stories are also biased towards people at the start of their careers. Many older unemployed people desperately need someone to take a chance on them.

redschell 14y ago

It's definitely a bit disconcerting, but perhaps not in the way you mean. I'm not so worried about failing to achieve my dreams because I didn't get lucky. I'm worried I'll fail and never know if I failed because I was unlucky, or because I just wasn't good enough. That's what makes me uncomfortable. I get over it pretty quickly, but it's still unsettling, if only for a moment.

sayemm 14y ago

Well, then, like anything else, you maximize your chances of success and having a few lucky breaks by: (a) having a long time horizon, developing expertise, and sticking with it, (b) simply going up to bat more and taking more and more chances (e.g. "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take"), and (c) learning from failure/mistakes and rebounding from it. At first glance, his post reads like he had one lucky break after another after another, but I'm sure the road felt very shaky and uncertain along the way, and he doesn't mention any of his mistakes/failures and I'm sure he made several (it just wasn't the point of the post). Max Levchin endured 3 failures early on, and then he had this chance encounter with Peter Thiel before founding PayPal: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1022 http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1022

simondlr 14y ago
I'd like to add to this. One thing Jack Dorsey said (paraphrasing here) in his interview with Kevin Rose (in Foundation series), is that he wishes he is fortunate to realise an opportunity when it presents itself. To me that means 2 things: seeking out and creating opportunities. Build stuff, meet people, take risks and chances. This increases the chances of opportunities (luck) happening: Meeting that perfect co-founder, stumbling onto a brilliant idea, finding the right investors, etc. Then secondly, you have to practice to be open-minded enough to realise that when an opportunity actually arrives, you know it is one! You might seek and create opportunities as much you want, as most of it ends up being luck, but if you don't realise that luck, you've missed the boat.