Sounds like survivorship bias. unknown_nobody sounds like what you are quoting has it a bit backwards? Some people work harder than others. Some are also luckier than others. Some are also smarter than others which is a variable we're not dealing with in this anecdote but is itself a subject of much research regarding how it affects outcomes. Real "success" in the sense of getting through X long term/tedious process or system is probably a mix of both hard work and luck usually, ignoring the intelligence variable for right now. Or even just luck. Plenty of hard working people fall by the wayside because the system they are in spits them out regardless of what they do.unknown_nobody wrote:Haha nice. I've heard a variation of this, whereby "Every man is self-made but only the successful will admit it". But do they admit the luck as well?jacob wrote:Now, remember that people tend to attribute success to skill and failure to lack of luck. Hence, if you talk to people who made it, they'll say that it's all thanks to their hard work and recommend you do the same. If you talk to the 90% that didn't succeed they'll say the system sucks.
So does the system suck?
It depends on your luck and how hard you work
I believe it's been proven that factors like intelligence or upbringing give one a head start but high work with lower intelligence can put one ahead of someone with higher intelligence who puts in less work. Intelligence and upbringing are a kind of head start.
New research about all of this is coming out about this stuff all the time comparing genetics, upbringing, work ethic, and other variables, and how it all influences one's life and "success" which I actually think is pretty interesting. How's that for meta? Hehe.
Anyway I think the subject of how different variables affect outcomes is pretty interesting.
