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Why smart hardworking people don't become successful (2018)

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Re: Why smart hardworking people don't become successful (2018)

#61

Post by harimau777 »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #37
harimau777 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that the issue is that most people do not make enough money to live comfortably, stash some away, and not worry. For example, if someone wants to own a home in a major cosmopolitan city in the United States, then they must be extremely wealthy.

If you can't afford a home in "a major cosmopolitan city" then you probably shouldn't be there.

I'm not sure that I follow your point. What would you have people do instead? It seems to me that having a home in a place one wants to live is part of basic prosperity.

Re: Why smart hardworking people don't become successful (2018)

#62

Post by hellisothers »

loriverkutya wrote: post #32

Another post about success is only measured by position at work and money and "following your dreams", where usually the dream is get rich and/or famous. According to my 10 years old me, I'm the most successful person in the world, because I wanted to learn to play the bagpipe (in my original country it was pretty impossible), now I'm moving to Scotland and learning to play the bagpipe. Please don't buy this bullshit…

Ugh but it’s so hard to let this go, I lie awake at night thinking to myself “stop spending so much time doing work” and every morning I wake up and crush work again because it feels good. Work is like a drug :p

Re: Why smart hardworking people don't become successful (2018)

#63

Post by dougmwne »

Data_Junkie wrote: post #60
dev_hacker wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so true and sad. Often the smartest people at a company are literally just being moved about by the business people. They literally can't see the real game above them.

That's because they are smart enough to know better. It is dumb people who play games with the lives of others, it is the fool who loves power.

Typically not in my experience. Smart technical folks are subjected to plenty of suffering at the hands of leadership. The ones "smart enough to know better" find a way to insulate their livelihoods from capricious decision makers by either learning how to play the game or finding a way not to play (consulting or maybe creating their own product).

And I don't think it's accurate either to say that only fools love power. The need for power and status is deeply rooted in our evolution and psyche. To go back to Aristotle, man is the political animal.

Re: Why smart hardworking people don't become successful (2018)

#64

Post by Data_Junkie »

dougmwne wrote: post #63
Data_Junkie wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because they are smart enough to know better. It is dumb people who play games with the lives of others, it is the fool who loves power.

Typically not in my experience. Smart technical folks are subjected to plenty of suffering at the hands of leadership. The ones "smart enough to know better" find a way to insulate their livelihoods from capricious decision makers by either learning how to play the game or finding a way not to play (consulting or maybe creating their own product). And I don't think it's accurate either to say that only fools love pow…

Very accurate to say the love of power makes a fool. A fool is just closer to an animal than a "wise" man. Power over another is just selfish, as love, or the care of more than yourself is altruistic. By smart enough to know better I meant they aren't the ones perpetuating the games, not that they are not suffering from the games. You flipped it backwards.

Re: Why smart hardworking people don't become successful (2018)

#65

Post by collyw »

EliRivers wrote: post #39
collyw wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll take that as a yes.

Indeed, we all interpret in favour of our preconceptions.

Refusing to answer the question implies that he didn't want to admit that my suggestion was correct.

Re: Why smart hardworking people don't become successful (2018)

#66

Post by tonyedgecombe »

deminature wrote: post #45
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't afford a home in "a major cosmopolitan city" then you probably shouldn't be there.

The majority of employment opportunities in certain fields are in "major cosmopolitan cities", so being skilled in these fields obliges people to live there, whether it's financially comfortable or not.

The point is if it isn't financially comfortable then you probably shouldn't stay.

Re: Why smart hardworking people don't become successful (2018)

#67

Post by tonyedgecombe »

harimau777 wrote: post #61
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't afford a home in "a major cosmopolitan city" then you probably shouldn't be there.

I'm not sure that I follow your point. What would you have people do instead? It seems to me that having a home in a place one wants to live is part of basic prosperity.

Yes, I'd like to have a home in London but I don't earn enough so I adjusted my expectations. I could try and bend reality by living in a bedsit or taking a long commute but neither of those results in a good life. It's much better to adjust your expectations to your income.

Re: Why smart hardworking people don't become successful (2018)

#68

Post by tonyedgecombe »

redisman wrote: post #51
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't afford a home in "a major cosmopolitan city" then you probably shouldn't be there.

All major cities in the US have 50-70% of the population as renters. Let me deliver the news.

I wasn't making a distinction between renters and home owners.

Re: Why smart hardworking people don't become successful (2018)

#69

Post by tonyedgecombe »

knowa42 wrote: post #43
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't afford a home in "a major cosmopolitan city" then you probably shouldn't be there.

This is a staggeringly naive opinion.

That is a staggeringly empty comment.

Re: Why smart hardworking people don't become successful (2018)

#70

Post by shadowprofile77 »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #16

There is a more basic reason missed by the article: many smart, hardworking people don't know how to sell. Almost everything in life, regardless of what you work on, is selling and no one is born with this particular skill set. You learn it like any other. It was likely the single most valuable skill I (eventually) learned, as a "smart hardworking people" by nature.

I second the question below. Any particular resource you really recommend for learning to sell (aside from lot's of trial and error along the way)
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