# What is the number one reason why some people succeed in life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 19, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994 "2008-12-19T23:23:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Public\_Animal\_No.9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Public\_Animal\_No.9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Public_Animal_No.9)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/41 "2008-12-20T02:45:22Z")
> [@HoboStew](#): > > Malcom Gladwell’s new book [Outliers](http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017922) discusses this very topic. I haven’t read it yet but will soon, he is an excellent writer. I’ve read a couple of reviews of the book, and one of the things he notes about Bill Gates is that he had the freedom and support to spend a tremendous amount of time working/playing with early computers, particularly programming them. That, combined with a relatively well connected family and being in the right place at the right time, added up to multiple billions of dollars. People who are highly successful at a given skill put in a tremendous amount of time learning and developing the skill. I have read (and I can’t remember where) that the 10,000 hour threshold (of preparation) seems to be critical in distinguishing true experts from the rest of the crowd. IMHO, the factors listed in the thread - perserverance, confidence, desire - all contribute significantly to a person’s ability to become “great” (a highly overused term IMO). But there is usually some luck, some degree of being connected, and often some level of charisma. Many connections are a consequence of personal effort and ability, others are being born in the right family (think Eisenhower vs. Kennedy). I doubt that Einstein’s looks or luck had much to do with his successes. It’s hard to say about connections - what if he hadn’t been able to attend university because he didn’t have the right status or live in the right place? Too many different reasons why various people are “successful,” in my view, so I don’t see that there is a single factor. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/42 "2008-12-20T02:55:24Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > Sure, but if Bill Gates had not been as determined, someone else would have filled that niche, and he would be a moderately wealthy software developer. Look at what happens to lottery winners and how fast they piss it away. > > Valete, > Vox Imperatoris You’re making my point. 😉 I said that you need some amount of all three of the items, not just any one. The specific ratios will vary per person, but you will never make it without a touch of each of them. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/43 "2008-12-20T02:59:53Z")
The ability to fake it. Stubbornness. The ability to focus. The ability to surround yourself with really good people. Deep pockets. The personality to always ask questions, always wonder why, always strive to improve. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/44 "2008-12-20T03:01:29Z")
I’m not sure there’s a number one reason but I’d say perseverance is important. The ability to make mistakes, fall down, get hurt, and get up and keep going after a goal. I’d say the wisdom to see the opportunity and the courage to seize it when it happens. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/45 "2008-12-20T03:02:05Z")
I’ve written a book that will tell you the answer to this very question. Please send me $29.95 (check or Paypal is fine) to receive a copy. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/46 "2008-12-20T03:07:26Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > You’re making my point. 😉 > > I said that you need some amount of all three of the items, not just any one. The specific ratios will vary per person, but you will never make it without a touch of each of them. I think we mostly agree. I’m just saying that determination (and very importantly, valuing the “goal”) matters more than the other ones, i.e. that someone with a higher degree of it will be more successful than someone with a corresponding lower degree of one of the other two. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/47 "2008-12-20T03:08:34Z")
As an example of what I’m talking about, look at people who become teachers. They will never be successful, in this thread’s sense of the word. They don’t want to be successful; they want to be teachers. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/48 "2008-12-20T03:25:19Z")
> [@The Liberator](#): > > What do they have that most people don’t have? Luck. Connections. Determination. Ruthlessness. Or some mix of them. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/49 "2008-12-20T03:25:34Z")
1. A good work ethic 2. A little common sense 3. Some intelligence 4. A little luck. Not required, but it certainly helps ETA: 5. The knowledge that success is relative ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/50 "2008-12-20T03:25:36Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I have a friend that just had $7000 hair plug surgery. He’s absolutely convinced that his slightly thinning hair is what’s keeping him from rising to the top at his company. Maybe that’s it? There is a [study](http://www.slate.com/id/2148759/) that essentially says, the taller you are, the further you’ll go. Your friend may be on to something. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/51 "2008-12-20T03:30:26Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Luck. Connections. Determination. Ruthlessness. Or some mix of them. If I had sat down and imagined, “How would **Der Trihs** respond to this thread?”, I could not have come up with better. You are a truly irreplaceable member of the community. And I actually agree with you a little on the ruthlessness. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/52 "2008-12-20T03:51:53Z")
> [@HoboStew](#): > > Malcom Gladwell’s new book [Outliers](http://www.amazon.com/Outliers-Story-Success-Malcolm-Gladwell/dp/0316017922) discusses this very topic. I haven’t read it yet but will soon, he is an excellent writer. I"ve read it, and it is a very interesting book. He makes a lot of interesting points, and one of them is that luck, and another form of it – the circumstances surrounding ones life – play a much more important role in determining who becomes successful than we like to admit. For example, elite Canadian hockey players are largely born in the first few months of the year – an artifact of the way the very competitive Canadian hockey system systematically selects the “best” players for the best teams, and in the early years the best 10-year-old players are usually just the older ones. In Bill Gates’ case, he is certainly very smart and determined and ruthless. But he was also lucky enough to go to high school which was one of the only schools in the whole country with access to a time share system, and he was one of the only students to be granted essentially unlimited time on that system. Ed ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/53 "2008-12-20T04:18:59Z")
> [@The Liberator](#): > > Lets say you were asked to examine every person in history who has ever achieved something significant to the lives of millions. These people would range from Abraham Lincoln to Bill Gates to Martin Luther King, Jr. What would you say is the all-encompassing reason for their success? > > What do they have that most people don’t have? Talent and opportunity. Both are usually necessary. Neither is usually sufficient by itself. ---
**Author:** ![Ruminator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Ruminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruminator)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/54 "2008-12-20T04:38:46Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > In Bill Gates’ case, he is certainly very smart and determined and ruthless. But he was also lucky enough to go to high school which was one of the only schools in the whole country with access to a time share system, and he was one of the only students to be granted essentially unlimited time on that system. I don’t have any Microsoft/BillGates books in front me at the moment (or any google cites) but I thought it was the parents of the kids that pooled together to buy that timeshare. So the “luck” was to have parents with the foresight to predict that computer literacy would be important. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/55 "2008-12-20T04:42:10Z")
> [@Ruminator](#): > > I don’t have any Microsoft/BillGates books in front me at the moment (or any google cites) but I thought it was the parents of the kids that pooled together to buy that timeshare. So the “luck” was to have parents with the foresight to predict that computer literacy would be important. I think you may be right – I forgot the details. But in any case it was very unusual to have the kind of computer access he had as a high school student. Ed ---
**Author:** ![seoulsoul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@seoulsoul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seoulsoul)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/56 "2008-12-20T06:14:24Z")
Clarity of purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Ocean\_Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8797f3/32.png) [@Ocean\_Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ocean_Annie)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/57 "2008-12-20T06:59:18Z")
A person’s belief that she can actively control the events that affect her life rather than passively accepting whatever the environment provides --self efficacy --and a willingness to risk failure. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/58 "2008-12-20T09:05:31Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > As an example of what I’m talking about, look at people who become teachers. They will never be successful, in this thread’s sense of the word. They don’t want to be successful; they want to be teachers. Ok, I think I know what you were trying to say here, but the words used in the order you put them sound fairly harsh. I thought this threads sense of the word was “who has ever achieved something significant to the lives of millions”, as the OP had laid out. There are teachers, and then there are successful teachers. ---
**Author:** ![Acid\_Lamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Acid\_Lamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acid_Lamp)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/59 "2008-12-20T12:54:29Z")
Sounds to like **Vox** is measuring success purely by financial terms, as are a few others in this thread. Lots of people are not that concerned with building a vast fortune. They measure their success in the ability to be _comfortable_ financially and enjoy life, taking interesting vacations, spending time with friends, or family. Perhaps they measure it by adapting their lifestyle to pursue a career that is meaningful to them. However, if we are talking about the great fortune builders, it takes a combination of skill, luck, connections, and timing to make it big. Until the next huge hardware revolution, we won’t see another Gates. Even then, the success of that person is dependent on his/her ability to carefully manage their new invention, find investors, and hope that the market is in good shape to receive them. Wealth is built on the bottom floor of major industries. ---
**Author:** ![lekatt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lekatt/32/7269_2.png) [@lekatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lekatt)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/60 "2008-12-20T14:25:57Z")
I believe they all have a desire to help others. To make the world a better place from a spiritual vantage point. Those are the really great people, the master teachers. The second tier are those that want to help others in a material way. Better water, transportation, health, places to live, etc. But all great people are humble, so they can learn more than others, compassionate with the desire to help others. In a survey of top executives it was found the only thing they had in common was a large vocabulary, and the ability to communicate their ideas to others in a easy to understand format. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994.md?page=4)