Comment by lisper
3 years ago
I understand perfectly well how I achieved success: a little bit of work and a whole lot of luck, mainly in the form of being in the right place at the right time on more than one occasion. The problem is not that this is hard to understand, the problem is that it is hard to replicate, even for me.
I agree a lot with this - but I also think many underestimate their ability to recognize when they are in the right place at the right time and take an action, as little as it might be, in the right direction. Of course, the action being taken ending up being the right one may entail plenty of luck in and of itself.
It might be as simple as "whatever I was interested in as a kid happened to also make good money", which in itself is luck but also requires a bunch of work to action on it.
But as you already like the thing it doesn't feel like you put the work, it was just "the fun stuff I liked to do happened to be profitable", even if it required just as much work as anything else
> whatever I was interested in as a kid happened to also make good money
Yep, a lot of this. But also a lot of getting dragged kicking and screaming into situations that turned out to be really great.
I love the theory about four types of luck.
Blind luck: You're walking and find money on the ground.
Luck of activity: You go walking a lot, if there's money on the ground you're likely to walk by it.
Luck of optimism: You know you're lucky, so you're always looking for confirming evidence. If you walk by money you're likely to notice.
Luck of eccentricity: You don't walk along the same paths as other people. If there's money on the ground, you're likely going to be the first to walk by it.