4 ms·

I always subscribed to my grandfather's words: be honest, work hard, do your best or don't do it at all. It's really paid off for me. I grew up as a child in go

by ronnier 12y ago

I always subscribed to my grandfather's words: be honest, work hard, do your best or don't do it at all. It's really paid off for me. I grew up as a child in government run project apartments in Texas. I was able to escape that and do well through hard work. I notice those around me who fail, they tend to: -Party instead of study -abuse drugs and alcohol -spend instead of save -put themselves in situations that lead to bad outcomes -surround themselves with others who are not uplifting nor motivating -desire some level of drama

wdewind 12y ago
But you had a grandfather to give you wise words...
craigyk 12y ago
success = hard work * luck 0.0 < hard work < 1.0 0.0 < luck < inf you should be proud of yourself, but not be so judgemental.... after all you were lucky enough to have a grandfather to serve as a good role model. I'm sure if you examined your life critically you'd find many other instances of luck.
- Chronic29 12y ago
  Everyone has luck in varying amounts but you cannot control it. The only thing you can control is hard work, so focus on that. Those at the lower rungs of the ladder tend not to work as hard as those at the upper. Both the upper and lower have access to luck so you can remove that form your equation.
cm2012 12y ago
What if your genetics made it much harder for you to not be impulsive?
ssmoot 12y ago
What if 80% of kids that come from a family with a net-worth of $10M go on to be "successful", but only 20% of kids that come from a family with a net-worth of $10K do? You've got a huge disparity. And maybe you can "pull yourself up by your bootstraps". But what about the other 80%? Who are putting in an equal effort to their better funded counterparts and not getting an equal reward?
jandrewrogers 12y ago
As someone who grew up in a dysfunctional "poor white trash" environment but bootstrapped out of it, I recognized many of the same patterns you did. While luck is always a factor, I've also observed many very lucky people fail at life anyway. I would distill the success factors down to three things that will usually allow you to be reasonably successful even with quite a poor run of luck: - discipline i.e. non-impulsive - hard work i.e. diligence toward a goal - high functional intelligence i.e. ability and desire to learn I always observed that if people have at least two of the three in good measure, they will do okay without leaning on luck as a crutch. They may not be in the top income bracket but they can lead a moderately comfortable life. All three of those factors I list are a mixture of inherent characteristics and environment, so there are some individuals that are likely born to fail even if they are lucky enough to be born into a high income family.
snowwrestler 12y ago
The hard question is why they want to do these things. It's tempting to chalk it up to lack of character or some innate shortcoming, but I think there is growing evidence that external factors can have a large effect on a person's personality, particularly in the first few years of life.
incision 12y ago
>'I was able to escape that and do well through hard work.' I don't doubt it and I agree with every point. However, I think it's useful to consider this success in terms of your own advantages rather than a observation of others failings. As a rule, the latter is quite an easy thing to do. As I've related many times on HN, I too was born into a number of disadvantages, but notable advantages as well. A strong mother, an older brother who took the brunt of the abuse in our house and was destroyed by it, a supposedly very high IQ, a sympathetic teacher or two, developing a strong interest in technology where one can easily make a career on demonstrated ability alone, and surely many more. I walked straight and narrow tightrope relative to many people I knew and still found myself on the brink at times. Therefore, I try to not to be quick to judge people who fall - particularly when there's no net.
enraged_camel 12y ago
>>I was able to escape that and do well through hard work. How would you have ended up if you didn't have your grandfather giving you that piece of wisdom? For example, what if he was a drug addict and/or an alcoholic, and he abused you and your parents? The point is that you had something happen that triggered a desire in you to escape your situation. Most low-income people never receive that kind of encouragement or role-modeling.

by ronnier 12y ago

wdewind 12y ago

But you had a grandfather to give you wise words...

craigyk 12y ago

success = hard work * luck 0.0 < hard work < 1.0 0.0 < luck < inf you should be proud of yourself, but not be so judgemental.... after all you were lucky enough to have a grandfather to serve as a good role model. I'm sure if you examined your life critically you'd find many other instances of luck.

Chronic29 12y ago
Everyone has luck in varying amounts but you cannot control it. The only thing you can control is hard work, so focus on that. Those at the lower rungs of the ladder tend not to work as hard as those at the upper. Both the upper and lower have access to luck so you can remove that form your equation.

cm2012 12y ago

What if your genetics made it much harder for you to not be impulsive?

ssmoot 12y ago

What if 80% of kids that come from a family with a net-worth of $10M go on to be "successful", but only 20% of kids that come from a family with a net-worth of $10K do? You've got a huge disparity. And maybe you can "pull yourself up by your bootstraps". But what about the other 80%? Who are putting in an equal effort to their better funded counterparts and not getting an equal reward?

jandrewrogers 12y ago

As someone who grew up in a dysfunctional "poor white trash" environment but bootstrapped out of it, I recognized many of the same patterns you did. While luck is always a factor, I've also observed many very lucky people fail at life anyway. I would distill the success factors down to three things that will usually allow you to be reasonably successful even with quite a poor run of luck: - discipline i.e. non-impulsive - hard work i.e. diligence toward a goal - high functional intelligence i.e. ability and desire to learn I always observed that if people have at least two of the three in good measure, they will do okay without leaning on luck as a crutch. They may not be in the top income bracket but they can lead a moderately comfortable life. All three of those factors I list are a mixture of inherent characteristics and environment, so there are some individuals that are likely born to fail even if they are lucky enough to be born into a high income family.

snowwrestler 12y ago

The hard question is why they want to do these things. It's tempting to chalk it up to lack of character or some innate shortcoming, but I think there is growing evidence that external factors can have a large effect on a person's personality, particularly in the first few years of life.

incision 12y ago

>'I was able to escape that and do well through hard work.' I don't doubt it and I agree with every point. However, I think it's useful to consider this success in terms of your own advantages rather than a observation of others failings. As a rule, the latter is quite an easy thing to do. As I've related many times on HN, I too was born into a number of disadvantages, but notable advantages as well. A strong mother, an older brother who took the brunt of the abuse in our house and was destroyed by it, a supposedly very high IQ, a sympathetic teacher or two, developing a strong interest in technology where one can easily make a career on demonstrated ability alone, and surely many more. I walked straight and narrow tightrope relative to many people I knew and still found myself on the brink at times. Therefore, I try to not to be quick to judge people who fall - particularly when there's no net.

enraged_camel 12y ago

>>I was able to escape that and do well through hard work. How would you have ended up if you didn't have your grandfather giving you that piece of wisdom? For example, what if he was a drug addict and/or an alcoholic, and he abused you and your parents? The point is that you had something happen that triggered a desire in you to escape your situation. Most low-income people never receive that kind of encouragement or role-modeling.