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Do success stories cause false beliefs about success?

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Re: Do success stories cause false beliefs about success?

#111

Post by hartator »

Arisaka1 wrote: post #101

Confirmation/survivorship bias thrives when paired together with the illusion of free will. If we were talking about a philosophical example of an apple tree in a remote closed garden, people would agree that the presence of the apple tree itself is a factor that plays a role to whether you'll eat an apple. No matter how much you can stretch your hand or climb a ladder, if there's no apple tree to climb there's no wa…

This is just basic nihilism.

Nihilism is easily rejected for things that matter. It’s easy to reject the abstracted Apple when you are not hungry. Bur when you are hungry, you are very glad you have access to these apples; no matter what social projections of privilege or not you thought these apple were representing when your belly was full.

Re: Do success stories cause false beliefs about success?

#112

Post by maximus-decimus »

democracy wrote: post #85
Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #3

Absolutely, I've had friends with limited business or tech background pump hard-earned savings into crazy tech startup ideas, precisely because they've read too many of these success stories. I've been guilty of not trying to talk sense to some of them, so much so that there's one particular marriage break-up related to a stupid tech start up blowing a couples life savings that still haunts me. And for the record, he…

I don't see why Salmon is a crazy idea - they should be selling other seafood as well - it seems like a quite normal business.

who the hell buys a salmon everyday?

Re: Do success stories cause false beliefs about success?

#113

Post by asiachick »

going_ham wrote: post #28

Nobody writes it, but it's okay to have average job, with average life and average family as long as you can enjoy your life! Why burden yourself with idea of success and setting expectations. At this point I am sure life doesn't give anything unless you look for it. And even if you seek, there is no guarantee. So I think it's waste of energy. My experience so far. I am really glad that I learned how stability is nec…

> average job, with average life and average family

having those is also luck and lots of survivor bias

Re: Do success stories cause false beliefs about success?

#114

Post by microtherion »

inter_netuser wrote: post #77
lampe3 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain a little bit more? What odds? What part of that successful people do? What do you mean by loser?

>What part of that successful people do? 1. they are rarely stupid 2. they often sleep a lot less 3. they more often than not are hyperthymiacs (related to #2). 4. they produce unlimited amounts of self-generated morale (related to #3). 5. they are stress tolerant (related to #4) 6. they are healthier in general (related to all of the above) I don't know very many successful people with numerous chronic health condit…

I can think of at least one highly successful person (Creator of several household name open source projects), who has dealt with rather serious chronic health conditions throughout their life. Won't name names since it's a somewhat sensitive subject.

For an example from the business world that is a matter of public record, Steve Jobs was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in 2003 and he still had an active role in the development of the iPhone and iPad before eventually dying in 2011.

Re: Do success stories cause false beliefs about success?

#115

Post by inter_netuser »

Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #3

Absolutely, I've had friends with limited business or tech background pump hard-earned savings into crazy tech startup ideas, precisely because they've read too many of these success stories. I've been guilty of not trying to talk sense to some of them, so much so that there's one particular marriage break-up related to a stupid tech start up blowing a couples life savings that still haunts me. And for the record, he…

>- A health start-up targeting a condition that affects 1 in 100k people, usually quite mildly and benignly, but involves surgically implanting a device onto a nerve in the jaw.

What's the condition? Seems like a serious intervention for a mild condition?

Re: Do success stories cause false beliefs about success?

#116

Post by dagw »

kkjjkgjjgg wrote: post #47
going_ham wrote: post #28

Nobody writes it, but it's okay to have average job, with average life and average family as long as you can enjoy your life! Why burden yourself with idea of success and setting expectations. At this point I am sure life doesn't give anything unless you look for it. And even if you seek, there is no guarantee. So I think it's waste of energy. My experience so far. I am really glad that I learned how stability is nec…

I envy the people who can endure the drudgery and boredom of most jobs, and can therefore have stable longterm careers. You make it sound as if chasing ideas is the hard part, but for some people the opposite is the hard part.

I envy the people who can endure the drudgery and boredom of most jobs, and can therefore have stable longterm careers.

I've had a stable, long term, stress free, career working at large 'boring' companies doing high level research projects with very smart people in areas I find fascinating, and that I'm still excited to get to work on. 'Boring' and 'stable' companies still have very cool problems they need to solve.

Re: Do success stories cause false beliefs about success?

#117

Post by pdimitar »

WalterBright wrote: post #76
lampe3 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain a little bit more? What odds? What part of that successful people do? What do you mean by loser?

Even the simple act of trying will improve your odds of success. Some basic strategies: 1. stay in school 2. don't do drugs 3. don't do crimes If you want to be a pro basketball player, your odds will improve if you practice playing basketball. Want to be a guitar god? Get a guitar and start practicing. Every guitar god I've heard of have one thing in common - they played a lot , for many many years, before breaking…

You do realize you're defending the position of "let's increase your odds from 0.001% to 0.5%", right?

You are kind of citing baseline expectations and not success boosters here.

Additionally, to play basketball for "many, many years", somebody has to pay your bills in the meantime. A luxury that most of the world does not have -- namely you being able to go all-in on your dream. Rent is still due next month.

Re: Do success stories cause false beliefs about success?

#119

Post by pdimitar »

cheeko1234 wrote: post #104
lampe3 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't start with all these productivity systems... I tried them all. Keeping a second brain for me was just waste of time and being busy with writing stuff down. A quick google search was most often faster. Journaling after a full journal did not give me anything in return. Just a journal full of crap. Planing my whole week in a calendar when to do what... Good luck with a child doing that. Specially if you don't hav…

Healthy competition is the best motivator. Challenging each other does work but both parties have to give a shit. Another great motivator is being told you will never be able to do something, which gives fuel to the motivation in the form of spite.

> Another great motivator is being told you will never be able to do something, which gives fuel to the motivation in the form of spite.

Very American of you. :P

For people already struggling this only adds depression to the bigger depressive pile, FYI.

Perspectives, we all need them. People can be beaten down to a level where every single adversity is putting them back to bed, unwilling to get out for the next day or two.

Re: Do success stories cause false beliefs about success?

#120

Post by pdimitar »

bladegash wrote: post #24
lampe3 wrote: post #19

From my personal experience I would say we have this bias not only when it comes to success stories. One person has done something good or bad. Then all people who are in that specific group must be like this. Think of Politicians. One does something bad they are all bad. One bicycle driver is riding like crazy so lets ban all of them. I had some bad Asian food so Asian food in general must be bad. Country X had a sh…

Great points and with that, I would say with that success, in my opinion, should be far more an internally derived metric than an external one. Sure, material success is one form of achievement in life. However, there are so many other forms of success (e.g., parenthood, safety, etc). FOMO is real and sometimes people measure themselves so harshly against the accomplishments of others that they fail to acknowledge th…

I want to prioritize everything else more than money. For now I can't because I am mostly living month to month without any savings.

I hear what you say but we operate on a hierarchy of priorities. Right now I am definitely above the survival stage... but only 1-2 tiers above.

I can't in good conscience drop my job and just go gaze the stars with my wife. I won't be at peace. :|

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