1. Republicans believe success results from effort. Democrats believe success results from luck. They are both wrong.
2. Do not underestimate the power of luck.
3. Do not underestimate the power of effort.
4. My left contact has bothered me all day. I have used three different ones today. None of them have felt right. Maybe it isn't the contact. Maybe it is a bad batch. Maybe I should just suck it up.
5. I might be a self-pity addict.
6. But I might not be.
7. The Alarm puts it best "This is absolute reality." This is all we got. We had better do the best we can.
*Fleetwood Mac
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2 comments:
To quote The Greatest - you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Sure luck has a lot to do with it but so does effort and, more importantly, talent. You can't tell me the difference between Wayne Gretzky and Jeremy Roenick is only luck and effort. Sure Gretzky had some of the best enforcers to ever hit the ice but neither could ever be described as a slouch. Gretzky is who he is because of a combination of all three (it certainly wasn't talent only).
My thesis is that it's an equal mix of luck, effort, and talent that get you were you go in life. I've seen people with real talent shit the bed and do nothing and others end up sweeping the floors at Wal-Mart in Podunk, Kansas. I've also, for the past two years, been surrounded by talented hacks that put in a little bit of effort, got lucky, and wound up making bank wasting taxpayer's money. Of course, look at where I'm at and what I came to the table with and you'll see that what I'm saying is true. Success is showing up, putting in enough effort to make shit happen, and being lucky enough to have somebody notice.
How many people have wasted their careers and talents doing shit that nobody noticed? Tons.
Anything worth doing is worth doing for money.
I always associated talent with luck. I don't think this is exactly correct, because there is definitley an "it" factor that separates guys. I will have to think about this more.
What about Brett Favre? I made an argument to my Dad that Brett Favre was lucky to meet up with Holmgren and the Packers at the exact right time. If he had stayed with Glanville or a coach like Gibbs that cannot stand turnovers, he would have never been a starter. I appreciate the fact that he took a lot of chances, was blessed with an exceptional arm and toughness, but I saw him make a lot of stupid plays that Joe Gibbs and many other NFL coaches wouldn't tolerate. He had a number of bounces go his way also. I am not taking anything away from him, and I like him. But I can imagine Todd Collins being a good NFL quarterback if he didn't get stuck on the Bills, and some other things went his way.
But I like this idea that talent and doing something with talent is what is important. Saying talent is luck makes one's own talent meaningless, and leads to self-pity and turning a blind eye to talent.
My Dad always says "The only thing I know is that don't know anything." This is a very true statement.
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