# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/61 "2008-12-20T14:29:38Z")
Being born on third base is easier than hitting a triple. If success= wealth, then I think most successful people were born that way. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgonzola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e480ec/32.png) [@Gorgonzola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgonzola)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/62 "2008-12-20T16:32:01Z")
My father used to tell me that if I wanted to be successful I should _find something that’s difficult for most people to do, and become good enough at it that you make it look easy._ I think he had something there. The trick seems to be tweaking this formula to one’s own strengths and talents – whether they be writing, entertaining, motivating others, selling, planning, synthesizing data, whatever it is you have a bit of an edge in – focus on it rigorously, and you blossom. Even for those who can readily identify where they have an edge – which is a task in itself – most fall short in the rigour department – we are lazy mammals. Hence the combination is exceptional. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/63 "2008-12-20T16:34:06Z")
Yes, **Bob** , in addressing this question, you have to separate out those who were born into wealth from those who worked their way up. For all Gates’s acumen, he wouldn’t have been able to do much had he not had the money and backing to buy MS-DOS in the first place - it’s not like he designed or wrote it. Granted, coming from money alone doesn’t make you the richest man in the world, but it sure helps. I think one of the several characteristics that _may_ lead to outstanding success is the ability to relentlessly and effectively self-promote. Even Einstein, while he developed Relativity while still in obscurity, was a serious self-promoter in his later years (or at least so I’ve read or heard), leading to his eventual semi-deification as The Scientist. But every quality people have named thus far - skill, determination, perseverence, etc., is shared by many, many people who have not become particularly successful. That includes relentless self-promotion, but (I’m guessing) not so much effective self-promotion. But then, that’s a circular argument, begging the question. If it were effective self-promotion, by definition it would have succeeded. We’d all like to believe there is a quality or set of qualities that invariably lead to success. But aside from being familially connected to people of power and/or wealth, which is usually sufficient but not always necessary (such contacts can be made on one’s own, but it’s harder without the entree), it’s impossible to define a characteristic or set of them that guarantees success. Luck and the ability to get the attention and support of people who are already wealthy and/or powerful play so heavily into success, and the latter can often depend on the former. Still, I’d have to say that given the basics of being reasonably intelligent and motivated, the single biggest factor absent innate connections would be the ability to convince others that one is success-worthy, so that one will get the opportunities to succeed. But that ability can come in many different forms, ranging anywhere from looks to charm to absolute conviction of one’s rightness in the face of widely held disbelief. You find lots of people with the smarts and the determination and even the discipline to make it, but only those who get the opportunity usually do, and that opportunity almost always comes from those who are already successful. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/64 "2008-12-20T17:23:50Z")
> [@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? Three words: Desire. Dedication. Determination. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/65 "2008-12-20T17:33:22Z")
When Arnold Schwarzenegger was asked the secret of his success he said: 1. Work Hard 2. Save your money 3. Marry a Kennedy. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/66 "2008-12-20T17:43:19Z")
> [@atomicbadgerrace](#): > > The desire to succeed is definitely a part of it, but there are plenty of folks out there who share that trait that will never amount to much. > > IMO, the biggest reason most successful people are as successful as they are is pure luck. Being in the right place at the right time, knowing the right people, being lucky that someone else _slightly better_ didn’t come along… that sort of thing. > [@Clothahump](#): > > Three words: Desire. Dedication. Determination. I have not read _Outliers_, but I have to say luck must be a good part of it. Full disclosure: I am a _huge_ believer in Desire, Dedication and Determination. And yet, how would Abraham Lincoln have fared had he been born in a time when they were exterminating all back-woodsmen? One thought that has always haunted me: How many Einsteins were lost through, say, the Holocaust? They would have been as talented as all get out, but it was just their bad luck. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/67 "2008-12-20T17:52:17Z")
Last night on Charlie Rose this exact subject was covered in detail. The guests were Malcolm Glidewell and Geoff Colvin, author of Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else . He analyzed the research on this subject and came to the conclusion that it comes down to practice and perserverance over decades. It takes a particular kind of practice as well - one that involves working on your weak points and strengthening them, and not so much perfecting your best skills. He used Tiger Woods as an example, who, although he was already the best player in the world, completely reworked his swing because he knew he could be better. [Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else](http://www.amazon.com/Talent-Overrated-Separates-World-Class-Performers/dp/1591842247/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229795106&sr=1-1) ---
**Author:** ![Standup\_Karmic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Standup\_Karmic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Standup_Karmic)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/68 "2008-12-20T18:03:49Z")
If it must be reduced to one single thing, then that thing is not an attribute, but an outcome. The thing that that is absolutely common among those who achieve whatever it is that they are desirous of achieving is this: they do something about it. I’ve worked for very financially successful idiots. They weren’t just jerks, they were stupid jerks. And yet they ran profitable companies even though they couldn’t find their ass with both hands. Why? Because they did those things that a person would need to do to have a profitable company. They could have talked themselves out of doing it, and just gone back to the boob tube. They could have convinced themselves that they’re not very bright, and that most people don’t like them, and done nothing. But they did not, and the result is a successful company. I think that the vast majority of people delude themselves into thinking that they have tried much, much harder than they really have. Most, I suspect, give up after finding one or two things which do not work. Those who are successful keep on doing things, until something works. I think this also explains the “luck” factor. Luck rarely visits itself upon those who are unprepared for it. That is, the person who finds themselves bringing up the average on “total tv watched per day” is unlikely to find themselves in a position of being lucky. Typically, only those who are engaged and actively seeking opportunities will be in a position to see them when they pass by…luck. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/69 "2008-12-20T18:05:25Z")
> [@Public\_Animal\_No.9](#): > > 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. Bill Gates didn’t become rich because of his computer skills, there were many, many people at that time with excellent computer skills. Bill Gates became as rich as he did because of his competitiveness/desire/business skills. He kicked everyone’s ass not in the technological arena but in the business arena. I firmly believe that even without the DOS/IBM deal, he would have been extremely successful. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/70 "2008-12-20T18:28:32Z")
> [@Standup\_Karmic](#): > > If it must be reduced to one single thing, then that thing is not an attribute, but an outcome. The thing that that is absolutely common among those who achieve whatever it is that they are desirous of achieving is this: they do something about it. > > I’ve worked for very financially successful idiots. They weren’t just jerks, they were stupid jerks. And yet they ran profitable companies even though they couldn’t find their ass with both hands. Why? Because they did those things that a person would need to do to have a profitable company. First off, I do not believe in “it” being a single outcome, effect etc. Saying that, I have to say that I too have witnessed a complete friggin’ moron who did do one thing, and one thing only, extremely well. Other than that, he was really a fuck-up. If he had been born in another place and another time, he would have been lucky to have been considered mediocre. It’s all just a crap shoot. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/71 "2008-12-20T18:31:18Z")
> [@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? Without reading any responses, I’m gonna say it’s because they want to. I believe I could do anything I wanted bad enough, but I just have no desire to be president, or put in the hard work necessary to become a rich businessman or entrepeneur. “Success”, to me, would be raising happy kids, having lots of vacation time, and a couple decent bicycles I can ride whenever I want. That’s why I want to teach college. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/72 "2008-12-20T20:36:12Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > 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 You’d be surprised at how many of us had it. I’m just about the same age as Gates, and I learned to program in high school, in machine language. The high school my brother went to had the same computer. A friend of mine at MIT learned on the 360 his father owned for his printing business. (He’s now a professor at MIT). I think we were more motivated than kids forced into computer literacy classes today, and we actually learned how to program, not how to make PowerPoint presentations. Gates had the advantage of a father rich enough to allow him to drop out of Harvard to start Microsoft. That had a lot to do with him getting started. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/73 "2008-12-20T21:51:17Z")
Desire, drive, focus, aptitude and luck are the biggest determining factors in what ultimately makes a person successful. First you need to “want” to be something. Head of your own software company, a successful lawyer or banker, a doctor, athlete, actor, whatever. You can’t start being successful until you know what you want to be a success at. Next, you have to start putting in the work. You need to start learning the skills, networking with the right people, actually starting down a particular path. And you need the drive to keep at it when things get tough. Focus will keep you from being distracted from your goals. It helps to actually be GOOD at what you intend to do. It’s a little tough to be a world class athlete with no innate athletic ability. It’s tough to be an accountant if you don’t have a head for numbers. Although drive, desire and focus can offset some lack of aptitude. And of course luck helps. You can’t help if your employer goes bankrupt, the price of widgets rises (or falls) or a million other factors. But all the other factors can help increase your luck so you aren’t as dependent on it. People who are successful have a certain singlemindedness in the pursuit of their goals. They aren’t deterred by adversity or failure. They don’t care what you think of them. They aren’t people who say: -it’s all a crapshoot -it’s who you marry -it’s who you are born to -it’s who you know (or they make it a point to know the people they need to know) ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/74 "2008-12-20T22:14:46Z")
I’d say it’s a lack of fear and luck. The two are kind of intertwined. You’re lucky if you’ve never failed so badly that you become afraid of making mistakes, or if you know there’s always a safety net ready for you if you do fail. Also, by having a lack of fear, you put yourself in situations that make you available for lucky opportunities. I’d also say that some degree of individuality plays a role. People pump you up, but sometimes they and their opinions can hold you back. I think really successful people don’t follow the crowd or bend to authority very easily. They aren’t necessarily natural leaders, but nor are they blind followers. And their feelings aren’t easily hurt either. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/75 "2008-12-21T06:27:59Z")
_There is no such thing as luck. There is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe._ - **Robert Heinlein** One of my favorite quotes. There is an illusion of luck predominating, because we live in a statistical universe and lots of things that happen to us are unique or unforseen or fortuitous. The successful people, however, make the most of it when it happens, and lose the least when it goes bad. Not just financially, but in terms of drive and abilility and desire. I’ve gotten ahead because I took advantage of ‘lucky’ events. But I know a person who has been showered with much more good fortune, and squandered all of it. It’s like the story of the athlete who gets discovered by a scout who just happens to be driving by and sees him throw a ball. Wow, what luck. But on the other hand, if the athlete hadn’t been able to throw that ball better than anyone else in the first place, that scout would have just driven by. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/76 "2008-12-21T12:27:14Z")
> [@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. > > Valete, > Vox Imperatoris Success isn’t always measured in dollars. Plenty of educators are poor and successful. Flexibility is key to being successful. It’s not the only ingredient, but it’s definitely part of it. ---
**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 21, 2008, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/77 "2008-12-21T12:37:00Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > Bill Gates didn’t become rich because of his computer skills, there were many, many people at that time with excellent computer skills. > > Bill Gates became as rich as he did because of his competitiveness/desire/business skills. He kicked everyone’s ass not in the technological arena but in the business arena. I firmly believe that even without the DOS/IBM deal, he would have been extremely successful. You’re right. But he had the combination of much better computer skills than the business people he was dealing with, and much better business skills than the computer people he was dealing with. I agree he would have been successful with another business model, but my guess is that without the DOS starting point, he would not have become a household name. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/78 "2008-12-21T14:03:21Z")
Determination. Persistence. Dedication. Those are the top things. Intelligence, social skills, leadership ability. Those help. Good luck helps but it has much less influence than most may think. Successful people make their own good luck. As they say “the more you work, the better your luck”. We all know people who had the money and the opportunities and failed and we all know people who started out with little and succeeded. We could think that this means we all have an equal shot but I believe we are not all raised equally. The first 15~20 years of our lives are crucial and will mark the rest of our lives. A child who is raised with good work habits, self-discipline, self-confidence etc has a huge advantage in life over one who was not taught that way. This is much more important than any luck later in life. This is the only place where one can claim luck. Not in having rich parents but in having been taught the necessary things which will later allow you to succeed in life. Even then, quite a few people manage to succeed out of sheer will and determination. ---
**Author:** ![Spin\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Spin\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spin_Master)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/79 "2008-12-21T16:39:53Z")
> [@sailor](#): > > Determination. Persistence. Dedication. Those are the top things. > > Intelligence, social skills, leadership ability. Those help. > > Good luck helps but it has much less influence than most may think. Successful people make their own good luck. As they say “the more you work, the better your luck”. > > We all know people who had the money and the opportunities and failed and we all know people who started out with little and succeeded. > > We could think that this means we all have an equal shot but I believe we are not all raised equally. The first 15~20 years of our lives are crucial and will mark the rest of our lives. A child who is raised with good work habits, self-discipline, self-confidence etc has a huge advantage in life over one who was not taught that way. This is much more important than any luck later in life. This is the only place where one can claim luck. Not in having rich parents but in having been taught the necessary things which will later allow you to succeed in life. Even then, quite a few people manage to succeed out of sheer will and determination. What is also critical is the ability learn from past mistakes and defeats in order to find one’s most suitable purpose in life. Failures are just as much of a blessing as they are a tragedy because they give people the opportunity to aim at a better direction that wasn’t visible to them before. Failure allows people to learn things and find motivations that they wouldn’t have if those misfortunes never happened. Fact is, if Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t have to struggle in their lives, they wouldn’t have needed anything to fight for. ---
**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 21, 2008, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994/80 "2008-12-21T17:12:16Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Success isn’t always measured in dollars. Plenty of educators are poor and successful. > > Flexibility is key to being successful. It’s not the only ingredient, but it’s definitely part of it. So what do you define it as? Defining it as something like being happy and having an impact on others is pretty much useless for this discussion, since then almost everyone is successful. So is it fame, influence, power, accumulation of shiny medals? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-number-one-reason-why-some-people-succeed-in-life/477994.md?page=5)