For example if you spend months studying only to fail a course there is no one to blame but you. If you don't study in the first place and blame society, genes or circumstances then you are blameless. You were dealt a bad hand, luck isn't on your side... I'm sure you've spoken and heard these words.

This isn't to say that society, genes or circumstances DON'T effect outcome (in a myriad of complex overlapping ways) but they have become scape goats for many peoples lack of endeavour in life.

In that situation, I think you should retake the course at the first opportunity, and keep retaking it until you pass.

There's a difference between failing and giving up.

But in a happy world, I would swear by this sentiment.

Less flippantly, if you don't do something because you think you won't succeed, then there's no chance of you succeeding. If you try something, don't succeed, learn from the experience and try again, there's a chance that you may succeed.

Sure, you'll fail often. Occasionally you'll fail hard. Get up, dust yourself off, decide whether it's worth trying again, and move on. Even failing at something worthwhile will make you a better person than not having tried at all.

Fear of being labelled a failure is a horrible thing.

What if you just want to chill and watch TV all day?

I think the last thing people need is more advice on how to reduce fun in their lives and replace it with work, especially under the guise of "becoming successful." If you're 40 years old, have no job and live at home and you're completely happy with that, I would consider you a success.

The worst part about society is the fact that it creates arbitrary tiers where you must reach to be "better" or "more successful" or some other meaningless vapid term. Then it goes further, like this article, and defines "good" stuff you should do that will help you be "successful" or just "happier." I have no plans to follow most of these suggestions for all kinds of reasons... lets see... I hate writing thank-you notes, speaking, volunteering and spending a weekend with people I could be caught up with in an afternoon.

Do what makes you happy. Define your own success. Stop taking canned advice about life from people who know nothing about yours. Make your own damn decisions. I work a ton because I love it, not so I can die with more money or feel better than the next guy. Do whatever makes you feel good and the rest will work itself out.

Edit: Quick clarification. If this were an article about how to be more fit, rested, intelligent, funded and motivated for the sake of those things, then I would totally endorse it. But if you really wanted to be all those things, you'd be doing that stuff already because it's pretty damn obvious. You wouldn't be wasting those 120 minutes on stuff that wasn't making you happy; you'd replace that stuff with other stuff that made you happy. Pretty straight forward.

As a talented procastinator who is occasionally lazy, this is not always the case for me. Many times I will spend my time doing things that make me happier in the short term but less satisfied in the long term. Articles like this do a good job of motivating me.

If that's what you want to do, that's what you should do.

But I'm not sure I'd recommend it. Imagine replacing "watch TV" with "gamble on horses" or "drink beer".

I kind of wish you'd said "What if I just want to chill and tend to my garden all day?" instead...

Look, I spent many years of my life quite literally telling people what they needed to do achieve their goals and trying to keep them from making short-term decisions that were quite obviously poor.

"Don't get back together with him, I guarantee within a month he'll leave you again and you'll be screwed." "I know you hate your job, but stop cussing at your boss until you find a new one!"

I have a pretty solid track record of being right. I used to judge people pretty harshly when they made obviously stupid life decisions that turned out to bite them in the ass, but I realized all it accomplished was making me incredibly cynical and untrusting towards anyone to do the "right" thing; whatever I happened to define as "right" that is. Now, I just live and let live. As long as someone's decision doesn't affect me I am not going to recommend against it. I'm also not going to make distinctions between "drinking all day" and "tending to a garden all day" -- they're both equally acceptable to me. Drinking all day while tending to a garden sounds like it could prove entertaining.

As you point out, life's too short to spend it being cynical and unhappy.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-sm...

Increasing your productivity by a factor of 100 in normal, real world work is not something that happens very often due to physical limitations. But in the software world, where you can rewrite the basic laws that govern you, gains like this are a lot more attainable.

In the physical world you have to work hard and you have to work smart. But in the software world, working smart is much, much more important.

"Luck" is often more about noticing opportunity than anything else. The are probably millions of ways you could get enough money to retire in 7 years, but noticing them requires an open mind.

PS: When your 4x as productive as the next guy you don't need to stay up late to get ahead. It's still an option if your trying to become rich but there is little value in doing that for someone else.

Which suggests that they're doing it wrong....

... Use "you're" when you mean "you are".

For example: If your a grammar police, you are annoying when you say "use 'you're' when you mean 'you are.'"

The best way to 'buy' time is to get a wire cutter and clip off the end of the AC cord of your TV. Instant life change.

If you take aggregate effort in a community and average it out, then there's an equal probability of that special event happening to anyone. If however you are that person who puts in the extra effort and brings up the average, you are turning the odds in your favour and increasing the likelihood that the special event actually happens to you.

Think of it as everyone buying one lottery ticket, but you buy more than one... your odds of success are proportional to the effort you've put in.

Thoughts?

I read an article a while back on YC about the virtue of failing spectacularly. I couldn't find it searchyc.com (maybe someone else can find it?), but the gist was that it's far more noble to try your hardest and fail in as grandiose way as possible. I like that idea because it seems more alive and pure, but I certainly hope my startup doesn't end up like that. :)

there are traps like this everywhere. You need to recognize areas where effort isn't bringing you returns, and somehow reorganize your life so that you don't have to do those things. find someone who isn't good at something you are good at, and vis-a-vis and trade. (this becomes much easier once you can hire people.)