Hi,

First, you articulated something in a way that I'd never thought of, and that I really like:

You wrote:
> Following on from Diens and Boyds earlier
> posts myself and Im sure many others are at
> the stage where its a question of whether we
> value our lives enough to really step out
> and make it happen.

That really is the core question, isn't it? Most of the time I feel deep down that I don't really value my life enough to work as hard as I know I'll have to work. That feeling bothers me a lot, and makes me question myself and my motives.

To give my viewpoint about the question you asked:

Many people, maybe most people, who got the ball rolling did it because pure luck intervened in their favor. They were at the right place at the right time with the right skillset, and / or they met someone who was actually willing to altruistically help them get started in the field they were born to work in. Once they had the ball rolling, they simply duplicated and expanded a formula that they had already found to work for them.

Bill Gates' success is 95% pure luck, in my humble opinion. Not only was he in the exact right place at the exact right time with the exact set of skills and the sure knowledge of what he wanted to do with his life, but his mother even knew the Chairman of IBM and was able to arrange an introduction!

If you watch "Biography" on TV religiously like I do, you've probably noticed how overwhelmingly prevalent pure luck is in people's successes. Clint Eastwood was (first instance of amazing luck) born looking like Clint Eastwood and was (second instance of amazing luck) visiting a friend at the studio, and he happened to pass someone in a hallway who said, essentially, "Boy, I wanna put you in th' movies!"

That's why the people I admire are the ones who succeeded without fate intevening on their behalf. Col. Sanders and Milton Hershey are two examples of people who succeeded despite long-term bad luck (even then, they succeeded because they were contributing to an ongoing societal trend). Walt Disney is another--he went bankrupt twice and had a nervous breakdown during his decades-long striving for success.

Whenever I hear someone say "I've done wonderful things!" I always wish I could get a truthful answer to "What part did pure luck play in your initial success?"

Luck is a bitch, and that's a fact.

Just my two cents, as usual.

Best,

-Boyd