Comment by gethly

> or are you a firm believer that with enough resilience and perseverance you'll finally make it?

Well, I am a good example for this being total nonsense. I have wasted 10 years working on a project where I thought that time would make up for lack of money and employees. It did not. I just wasted a DECADE. Sure, I have learnt a ton, way more than I would have in any job. But still, a decade lost is a lot of missed opportunities.

So no, resilience is not the answer. It helps, but in the end it is just one of many things that are part of success. And let me tell you, and you will not like hearing this, but I have been alive for quite some time and seen how things work, and the sad and cold-blooded truth is that success is pure luck and your input matters very little. Some people take the "luck = preparation + opportunity" approach, but that is complete bs. Imagine you have Al Pacino, Robert Redford, Denzel Washington and Daniel Day-Lewis going for a role in a movie. What determines who gets the role? They are all prepared, experienced, confident.. but in the end, the director may feel more connection of Pacino with the character than Day-Lewis. Does it mean that Pacino is better than Lewis? No. It's just luck that Pacino got better chemistry with the director. You could say that ah, but the opportunity aspect of the equation matters. But dues it? Beside these aforementioned actors, there was open call and 500 actors came to read for the role. So how does opportunity have any input here? It does not. Just like preparation where a fool can find himself in a strange situation but is able to grasp that opportunity and make something out of it.

Luck is luck and we're merely it's subjects, like leafs in the wind. You are not guaranteed success in life. Instead, you should focus on the path, not the destination. You'll get there, somewhere, whatever there or it is. You have the power to pick the destination and walk the path, but you are not guaranteed you end up where you set out to.