Comments by "L.W. Paradis" (@l.w.paradis2108) on "What role does luck play in your life? | Barry Schwartz" video.

Of course luck is a huge part of life. Don't people know anyone hit by a drunk driver? Or anyone who had pediatric cancer? Medical malpractice? Crippling depression? A parent who commits suicide? Or who died of COVID in spite of taking all precautions? The wisest people always acknowledge the role of luck, and understand its gravity. This was a great talk.
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How are so many people missing the point? It's simple. Let's say you get a minimum wage job. Great! No problem: you work X hours, you must be paid for X hours, under the Fair Labor Standards Act. You are protected by law. You WILL get what you deserve for sure, based on your work. But you have higher aspirations. You work very, very hard, and become truly outstanding at what you do. But does that mean you'll be admitted to school, or that you'll get the job? No. There are 100 applicants like you, for fewer than ten seats, and at least 20 or 30 of these applicants are as outstanding as you are, and possibly a little more. No one is suggesting hard work is not essential. It is all the more essential. But it is "no guarantee." That was the point. More than that: a society where larger and larger numbers of deserving people get less and less is not going to work out, yo.
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I can relate to these sorts or reversals. I've had a cascade of "impossible" events happen, one after another, many times. Please listen to this advice: First, take the long view. Whatever career you may embark upon before age 40 you will be doing for three decades. So, you have got plenty of time. A lot of people do not really know what they want to do early on, and may not be ready to make a real commitment before age 30. So let go of the past, it matters far, far less than you may think. In fact, being older when you graduate could be an advantage. Just ignore the people who got lucky and went straight through. They are not common in any case, they do not matter -- and they are not you. Now with that out of the way: Take care of your health. Good food, sleep, exercise -- no shortcuts. You have to. Remember, here, too, being a little older is advantageous. It will make it easier for you to focus and follow through. People are often still a little fragile in early adulthood and don't hit their stride or their prime before their late twenties, or even later. Third, every major urban area has some pubic university that is essentially open enrollment, and offers night classes. Find the best teachers at that university and study with them -- remember, the teacher is even more important than the subject. Find the right teachers and get the most you can out of it. Don't worry too much about your major right now, or getting a degree -- focus on rebuilding, and being excellent in your work. AND did I mention, studying with the right teachers? Once you do these things, you'll be in a position to come up with new ideas. You'll see. What happened to you is really unfortunate, and it has disrupted your life, but it does NOT have to determine your future. A lot of people have disrupted lives at the moment. Sometimes disruption is the prelude to new opportunities. This is a good time to take a pause. Your health is your foundation. Put your focus there. Having some art in your life is also important. What was your favorite thing to do when you were a child? This is an important question to return to from time to time. One other thing: if you have bad grades on any college transcripts, consider petitioning to have them removed. State your case, make sure they know what happened, and stress that your goal is a true fresh start. Ask someone who is good at this, find out exactly where to address your request and how to write it up, and get it taken care of.
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@sophiejones304 You are very welcome, and thank you for saying so. People will make you feel as though the smallest disruption is lethal, and nothing could be further from the truth. The young are made to feel their lives are over before they've begun. It's vicious. And crazy, just plain crazy. Besides all that, thirty years is plenty in any job. Trust me.
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Virtual classes are a disaster for the vast majority of people, and not because of something they did "wrong," or something they "failed" to do. We will see the results soon enough. :/
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No, actually. This is exactly how the system works. Hard work is absolutely essential, but (very close to) never sufficient. The right people also have to notice, and appreciate what you've done, and take pleasure in seeing you advance. Come on, everybody knows this!
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@44043495 Sometimes the opposite -- a strong visualization can make you feel "too good," and sap your drive, because you already have part of the happiness you would have had, had you actually achieved what you are visualizing. (This has been studied.)
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The point wasn't that "luck" without hard work can lead to a fulfilled life. It cannot. The point was that the same hard work without luck will lead to fewer of the rewards that society values, and that individuals damn well better have, to put food on the table.
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@andersonandrew112 I am already very close to certain that you are a white American. Nowhere else have I found a mass obsession with "competition," so called. It's like a weird religion. Well, if you don't see the effects of this vaunted "competition" yet (which in itself is astounding, but such are the effects of indoctrination), you are about to. If you think growing inequality, the opioid crisis, financial manipulation on a grand scale, youth depression, extremist militias, and mass shootings have been bad so far, well . . . We'll see how "successful" people are if the U.S. embarks on more costly and dangerous wars, and the dollar loses the reserve currency status it now enjoys. But even in the best of times, there is a problem with "competition" that even Socrates saw: there are two ways to come out on top. The first is to make yourself as excellent as possible. The second is to undermine everyone else. Socrates lived in a society where more and more people took the second route, and we all know how that turned out . . . the same way it always does.
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@aerodylluk2543 It isn't ignorance of how to get out of poverty that keeps people poor. It is the fact that no matter what they do, they keep getting the same result. They keep getting discounted, disrespected, and dismissed. Look at it this way: if a person works hard, will they be noticed, and rewarded? They may be. Let's say they usually will (not evident, but possible). The result could also be quite different: the hard worker may be viewed as a chump, and people may smirk behind their back. Or the boss may decide, "this person must be after my job. Why else would they work so hard?" I think we all know what happens next. Even a small amount of prejudice can have a massive impact. (Look up "sensitive dependence on initial conditions." It's not just a concept in physics, it applies to all sorts of complex systems.) Working hard is essential, but it will not be rewarded -- it may not even be understood -- outside of the right context. The hard work has to occur where hard work matters, and where other people understand its meaning and are willing to honor it and reward the hard worker. In a lot of places, that does not happen. In a lot of places, politics matter far more.
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@andersonandrew112 Most new businesses fail, no matter what their founders do. We're about to see a whole bunch of them fail pretty soon, in fact. Also, no one works 70+ hour per week for years on end, or even for months, without respite. That does not happen, due to diminishing returns based on sheer fatigue. The body and brain can't function, the risk of a car accident goes up, etc. When people exaggerate about how hard they worked, and you sense they are angry (the discourse almost always includes a phrase like "busted my butt," or a swear word, or both), underneath that you very often find deep resentment, because they really weren't enjoying it at all. No one can sacrifice their whole life pursuing money. They end up resenting everyone -- those with more, and those with less. Everyone else is to blame, for something or other. If nothing else, then for "high taxes." How is that better than "blaming the system?"
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Wow a whole lot of people must have had a whole lot of "bad karma" all together on September 11, 2001. /s Guess what? There is no such thing as karma.
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Good thing the resistance fighters in WWII would have thought you were out of your mind. Language itself is a collective social product as well, and if humanity were to die out, so would language. Not only that, but it undergoes change through time. Does that make it less "real?"
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@Nicholas Olesen I know that. I'm sorry for the ambiguity. The point was, we are surrounded by it. We are led to believe anyone who disagrees is special pleading. But in fact, it is a grossly inadequate view that few people outside of US/UK hold.
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@andersonandrew112 LOL, that was a good answer. Pragmatic. My dad used to say, "first we live, then philosophize."
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@romominiki1694 Read a book. Read many books.
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@romominiki1694 "Bestest" and "gonna" are not words, except in colloquial dialogue. You are not writing a play here I am guessing.
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That was exactly what he said. Can you be serious?
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You have never read Rawls, I'm guessing.
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@MP-ut6eb I'd switch Talent and Hard Work, but otherwise, ^^^
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He doesn't disagree. That's why he mentioned Rawls.
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@screwtape1848 But look, you know that spiel by heart and in your sleep. It's the rot you're supposed to believe, and you do. So, what's the problem? What would you need a new video for?
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Offloading responsibility is how business is done. That is why people incorporate: to limit liability. This is why a corporation can declare bankruptcy without putting at risk the owners' personal assets that are not included in the corporate's financial structure. The owner is protected from having to be personally responsible. As for Wall Street, when they structure transactions to "minimize risk and maximize rewards," that's the very same thing. The idea is to avoid having to be responsible for losses, while benefiting from gains. That's called being a success. But preach the gospel of "personal responsibility" to the hoi polloi, ha ha. Good one.
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@screwtape1848 But then we would have to modify the corporate form quite drastically. Cool. :)
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@Nicholas Olesen "Survival of the fittest" may be the only mentality you know from directly experiencing its effects, but it has not been with mankind for millennia. Social Darwinism is typically Anglo-Saxon, and relatively recent.
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@ForumArcade I have an idea. Find out how the world actually works: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/05/the-quiet-coup/307364/
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