Success is down to luck?

[aethelreddansforth]

I think it is.
Even if a person works hard and makes good choices, it can still be down to opportune circumstances beyond one's control.
There are a number of noted people who openly admit they have what they have due to luck, and not necessarily working towards a goal and accomplishing it.
I don't personally see why this is bad to admit. it seems "unPC". is it? biases, prejudices, and merely being in the right place at the right time are all factors in life outcomes.

Could a mixed-race woman be POTUS 100 years ago? even if she were well-qualified? or VP for that matter? no. because of the norms of the time. Could a woman of any race be POTUS or VP back then? hardly. they could barely vote let alone run for office.

I don't care if it's "fatalistic" and "down". i don't see how acknowledging the roles of shit we cannot control is "down". It's "down" to live in a fairytale that everything always works out as intended or planned.

 

[Rickrock]

Although luck and opportune circumstances play a part of it, attitude and working toward something also play a part in it. Even your mental attitude of accepting what is and working with it makes a difference. It's complex.

 

[aethelreddansforth]

Although luck and opportune circumstances play a part of it, attitude and working toward something also play a part in it. Even your mental attitude of accepting what is and working with it makes a difference. It's complex.

Yes, one should work hard. but life is chaotic. there are always circumstances that one cannot account for or control. it's funny though, claim to be wise, but then don't get that shit happens. since when are humans omniscient and omniscient?

 

[rareboy]

Being in the right place at the right time is critical...and much of that is down to circumstances, which I suppose people might call 'luck'.

IT is then what you do with the opportunity that likely determines and defines your 'success'.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Being in the right place at the right time is critical...and much of that is down to circumstances, which I suppose people might call 'luck'.

IT is then what you do with the opportunity that likely determines and defines your 'success'.

I pulled some strings to get a friend of mine a job interview where I used to work. The review panel passed on him because of his "pity me" attitude.

 

[peeonme]

Do what you can, when you can, with what you have.

 

[Essex Boy]

Fortitude. Indefatigability. Most of all, steadfastness.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

this kind of rhetoric mostly comes from people who have had the least obstacles, or they had plenty and they're bitter about it so they lack empathy for others.

it feels very Richard Simmons "I'M A PONY!"-ish to treat life like a motivational poster on the wall at Planet Fitness. If all this were true, upward mobility would be a tangible, measurable, phenomenon. We know better, behind every "This millenial bought her first home at age 20" and "This man turned his side passion into a $250k/year salary" is a parent fronting them start-up money or an uncle who's the CEO or a big inheritance from grandma.

I guess Tyre Nichols died cuz he just didn't try hard enough to not get murdered by 5 cops? The poor who, statistically, will likely die poor, just weren't motivated.

But yeah, I guess effort matters. Maybe. I've never seen someone tell a millionaire receiving corporate welfare to just "try harder" instead of "be handed resources from the govt on a silver platter resting on the backs of the working class."

 

[peeonme]

I pulled some strings to get a friend of mine a job interview where I used to work. The review panel passed on him because of his "pity me" attitude.

No one wants a "crybaby" around, even if they have a good reason to cry. Stiff upper lip, best foot forward and so forth will open many doors.

 

[fabulouslyghetto]

No one wants a "crybaby" around, even if they have a good reason to cry. Stiff upper lip, best foot forward and so forth will open many doors.

Source: Hallmark movie quote

 

[peeonme]

I am always amazed at how a positive attitude seems to annoy others. The world ( the people, not the planet) seems to thrive on negativity, granted if we want to "feel bad" or "be mad" there is plenty of tragedy, darkness and doom and gloom to suck us in. It is an individual's right to be in a place of self-pity if that is their comfort zone. The damage that has been done to a person or group is hard to explain to those who've not been there.

To move past the past is indeed a risk... what if I fail? What if "they" (use the 'they' that best suits you) wrong me? Well, you don't know until you try. I try to encourage others to keep on trying, if they choose not to it is sad, but I have done all I can do.

We go around once... just once, remember that. Being positive (not in denial of past wrongs, but choosing to work past them) has kept me alive.

 

[lockeroomguy]

Most successful people have had some degree of luck, or unexpected opportunities. They became sucessful because they embraced those opportunities, and worked hard. I had a sucessful career, with multiple twists and turns. When things changed, for better or worse, I worked hard with what I had available.

 

[rareboy]

No one wants a "crybaby" around, even if they have a good reason to cry. Stiff upper lip, best foot forward and so forth will open many doors.

I agree...but only a tiny little bit.

I was lucky to be born white. And Male. In Canada.

In an age when post war liberalism made just about anything and everything possible for me because I was clever and funny and just barely good looking enough.

No question but that we were raised in the stiff upper lip tradition. To make the best of our circumstances and then to 'better ourselves'.

I also had a number of centuries of exemplars looking over my shoulder to see what I could do to raise our family standard.

But this is what I meant by the right time and the right place. There are thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions who were not born into the luxury of white privilege and societal enablement that I was.

They all started about half a league behind me in the race.

I know this so clearly now and I think I knew it then. And it troubled me even as a child to see the kids born to terrible circumstances just beaten down over and over by a system that did not want them to rise.

It has guided my adult life and all the work we do in education and support for the 'unlucky'.

 

[peeonme]

I agree...but only a tiny little bit.

I was lucky to be born white. And Male. In Canada.

In an age when post war liberalism made just about anything and everything possible for me because I was clever and funny and just barely good looking enough.

No question but that we were raised in the stiff upper lip tradition. To make the best of our circumstances and then to 'better ourselves'.

I also had a number of centuries of exemplars looking over my shoulder to see what I could do to raise our family standard.

But this is what I meant by the right time and the right place. There are thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions who were not born into the luxury of white privilege and societal enablement that I was.

They all started about half a league behind me in the race.

I know this so clearly now and I think I knew it then. And it troubled me even as a child to see the kids born to terrible circumstances just beaten down over and over by a system that did not want them to rise.

It has guided my adult life and all the work we do in education and support for the 'unlucky'.

Well, I agree with you as well, but in like fashion just a tiny bit.

As a boy I was so absorbed with making sure the rent and the utilities were paid that I gave little thought to the fact that had I been a black 16 year old that the red neck who rented out the house would not have rented to me and my mother.

The fast-food place would not have hired me either, in the late 60's you didn't see many black or people of color in the suburbs. 8 mile road was the line of demarcation or so it seemed. My skin color or lack thereof did open doors for me, but I was somewhat unaware of it. I did see applications thrown away that were turned in by physically challenged people or people of color. I gave it little thought as I was in a bit of a survival mode.

The fact that I did study on my own, concentrated on using proper English ( I avoided slang and words like "ain't") also I looked for people to "hang out" with that were more educated than I was, was a choice that had nothing to do with any sort of privilege. Anyone can improve their selves, and doing such will not change the fact that the deck is stacked against some people.

But, we get one chance to make a first impression, not one employer in an interview wanted to hear about me growing up in a fatherless home, they really didn't give a damn if life had been unfair to me. They looked for some positive energy, a good attitude.

As for being in the right place at the right time, we won't be any place without trying.

 

[TickTockMan]

I consider myself someone that did almost everything right, but still got screwed by life. I was unlucky.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

My job in state education can be considered as "luck", because it all happened out of the blue with instructions to complete a job application, with a scripted resume included!
Rumor had it that the director of Early Learning wanted me as part of her staff and had made all the arrangements before I even completed the job application.