4 ms·

> Working on something good will pull you along a path where good things keep happening to you. Words to live by. I'm 19, not attending college and experiencin

> Working on something good will pull you along a path where good things keep happening to you. Words to live by. I'm 19, not attending college and experiencing some bits of success. I have friends that like to say (not maliciously) how I'm that kind of person that can keep making risky decisions because has big strikes of luck. What I keep trying to tell them, is that I have "big strikes of luck" because I keep myself always as exposed as possible to them. And I do so exactly with those decisions they deem risky, like not going to college, spending money on conferences, relocating, loosing ties.

jxf 12y ago
It's apocryphal [0], but I'm reminded of Thomas Jefferson's quote: "I am a great believer in luck -- the harder I work, the more I have of it." [0]: http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/i-am-great-believer-luckquotation http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/i-am...
- fossuser 12y ago
  There's also the other kind of luck that you're not really in control of. You can attempt to position yourself for the best possible outcome, but even the ability to do that may be determined by original surroundings. https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S33/87/54K53/index.xml https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S33/87/54K53/ind...
- PhasmaFelis 12y ago
  I don't mean to criticize you personally, but it's hard to take pithy aphorisms about the value of hard work seriously from someone who ran a slave plantation. Perhaps the real lesson here is: when someone in a position of power likes to talk about the value of hard work, take a minute to think about who's doing the work and who's reaping the value.
iLoch 12y ago
Amen. I'm right there with you. It's definitely not the cookie cutter success plan, and in some ways I'm happy about that. Personally I'm most excited to see where I'll be when my friends start looking for work after university. Not in a "haha, I'm better than you" kind of way - just as validation that what I've done isn't completely crazy. But who knows, maybe I'll be living out of a cardboard box somewhere in the heart of Silicon Valley in a couple years. :)

jxf 12y ago

It's apocryphal [0], but I'm reminded of Thomas Jefferson's quote: "I am a great believer in luck -- the harder I work, the more I have of it." [0]: http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/i-am-great-believer-luckquotation http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/i-am...

fossuser 12y ago
There's also the other kind of luck that you're not really in control of. You can attempt to position yourself for the best possible outcome, but even the ability to do that may be determined by original surroundings. https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S33/87/54K53/index.xml https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S33/87/54K53/ind...
PhasmaFelis 12y ago
I don't mean to criticize you personally, but it's hard to take pithy aphorisms about the value of hard work seriously from someone who ran a slave plantation. Perhaps the real lesson here is: when someone in a position of power likes to talk about the value of hard work, take a minute to think about who's doing the work and who's reaping the value.

iLoch 12y ago

Amen. I'm right there with you. It's definitely not the cookie cutter success plan, and in some ways I'm happy about that. Personally I'm most excited to see where I'll be when my friends start looking for work after university. Not in a "haha, I'm better than you" kind of way - just as validation that what I've done isn't completely crazy. But who knows, maybe I'll be living out of a cardboard box somewhere in the heart of Silicon Valley in a couple years. :)