Skill vs Talent [Seth Godin] – “I don’t think there are many places where talent is the key driver of success. The biggest exception might be that a drive to acquire skill could be a talent…”
I’ve long believed that success is a function of talent, hard work, and luck. If your sum is high enough, you succeed.
Maximizing any one category, and zeroing out the others, isn’t enough to succeed. But in the moment, you can only control one variable, hard work, so you have to double down on that if you’re going to double down on anything.
The only other factor you can exert any control over, luck, is a function of when you choose to start whatever it is you’re doing.
So really your choices are to work harder to choose a different time to pursue your goal.
Speaking of making your own luck…
How an Ex-Cop Rigged McDonald’s Monopoly Game and Stole Millions [The Daily Beast] – “Jerome Jacobson and his network of mobsters, psychics, strip-club owners, and drug traffickers won almost every prize for 12 years, until the FBI launched Operation ‘Final Answer.’”
8 Critical Decisions for a Successful Investing Strategy [Engineer Seeking FIRE] – “After maximizing income and minimizing expenses, the next step in getting to FIRE is to invest wisely. The goal of this post is to teach you how to wisely make the 8 critical decisions for a successful investing strategy. This is a proven way to optimize your investments and minimize risk. Investing is different than gambling, so this post will not show a way to make money fast. However, I will talk about how to increase your money in a way that minimizes risk, fees, taxes and maximizes returns.”
Finally, we have an enjoyable interview with none other than Alex Trebek:
In Conversation: Alex Trebek The Jeopardy! icon on retirement, his legacy, and why knowledge matters. [Vulture] – “Yes. You have to set your ego aside. The stars of the show are the contestants and the game itself. That’s why I’ve always insisted that I be introduced as the host and not the star. And if you want to be a good host, you have to figure a way to get the contestants to — as in the old television commercial about the military — “be all you can be.” Because if they do well, the show does well. And if the show does well, by association I do well.”
Have a great day!