I think we put a lot of emphasis on “luck”, while neglecting what success actually looks like.
A lot of that “luck” manifests as benefiting from the status quo. A hundred people line up for a job and ten people get it. Those ten “got lucky”, perhaps even by having developed a particularly valuable set of skills that are exceptionally useful in that moment. But then you ask what they “got lucky” doing. And it turns out we’re describing Don Draper-esque ad executives profiting off the cigarette industry. Or WWE wrestlers who share Vince McMahon’s taste in victims. Or bank managers who had some of their best sales years in 2007 and got out before the card tower collapsed.
When you’re focused on “success”, its worth asking what you’re even trying to succeed at. Particularly when so much of what makes a modern Success Story in America comes down to boiler room scams, physical/sexual abuse, and the most toxic forms of industrial output in human history.
Success to me is health, friends and family, video games, and being able to do something I love while making enough money to maximize those things as best as I can. It’s always a balance.
I think everyone should define success on thier own terms. I feel lucky that none of the typical western desires of status or shiny objects interest me at all.
I think everyone should define success on thier own terms.
I think that works at some level. But you’re opening the door to some Wolf of Wall Street style sociopaths making life miserable for the rest of us so they can jockey for biggest bank account.
You can’t choose what other people are allowed to think.
There are always going to be evil people. Things that lead to evil people doing more damage then good is what regulation is for, like workplace safety, etc.
You can’t choose what other people are allowed to think.
That’s functionally what education is. Not so much “allowed” as “inclined”. But establishing social obligations and taboos is sort of foundational to any cohesive cultural movement.
There are always going to be evil people.
I don’t doubt it. But its important to define what “evil” standards for in order to rally against it.
I think we put a lot of emphasis on “luck”, while neglecting what success actually looks like.
A lot of that “luck” manifests as benefiting from the status quo. A hundred people line up for a job and ten people get it. Those ten “got lucky”, perhaps even by having developed a particularly valuable set of skills that are exceptionally useful in that moment. But then you ask what they “got lucky” doing. And it turns out we’re describing Don Draper-esque ad executives profiting off the cigarette industry. Or WWE wrestlers who share Vince McMahon’s taste in victims. Or bank managers who had some of their best sales years in 2007 and got out before the card tower collapsed.
When you’re focused on “success”, its worth asking what you’re even trying to succeed at. Particularly when so much of what makes a modern Success Story in America comes down to boiler room scams, physical/sexual abuse, and the most toxic forms of industrial output in human history.
These are good points.
Success to me is health, friends and family, video games, and being able to do something I love while making enough money to maximize those things as best as I can. It’s always a balance.
I think everyone should define success on thier own terms. I feel lucky that none of the typical western desires of status or shiny objects interest me at all.
I think that works at some level. But you’re opening the door to some Wolf of Wall Street style sociopaths making life miserable for the rest of us so they can jockey for biggest bank account.
You can’t choose what other people are allowed to think.
There are always going to be evil people. Things that lead to evil people doing more damage then good is what regulation is for, like workplace safety, etc.
That’s functionally what education is. Not so much “allowed” as “inclined”. But establishing social obligations and taboos is sort of foundational to any cohesive cultural movement.
I don’t doubt it. But its important to define what “evil” standards for in order to rally against it.