Quote Originally Posted by spoonitnow View Post
They do not happen to the world. The world happens to them.
This is exemplary in illustrating how a person who sees himself as successful (which i can gather you do) likes to take the credit for that success, and by logical extension, thinks anyone who doesn't enjoy the same level of success is mostly if not wholly responsible for their own fate.

This is the kind of thinking I had early in life. And then I turned six and realized luck actually does play a part.

The difference between winners and losers in life is not about where they end up. It's about their ability to distinguish internal and external effects on their life. Winners recognize what they can influence and take steps to do so. They also recognize what they can't influence and accept it as part of a life. Losers fail at one or the other (or both) of these tasks. Both types can end up as 'successful' or 'unsuccessful' (however one might want to define those terms) due to the combination of their own actions and random chance.

But the idea that you can be a total champion and still fail, or be a total fuckup and still succeed doesn't sit well with successful people, so they often resort to arguments such as the above. OTOH, unsuccessful people often go to the other extreme and blame everything but themselves.