Thread by @heyjenbartel

I am suspicious of any successful person who refuses to admit that a significant factor in their success was luck.

Yes, "Luck is the crossroads of Opportunity and Preparation", but it is still an uncontrollable factor and anyone who tries to credit their accomplishments solely to hard work is either intentionally lying or lacks a certain amount of self-awareness.

It's absolutely wild how simply saying "luck is a factor in success" gets interpreted like this, whew boy the defensiveness levels are off the chart

Me: "Luck factors into success."
Them: "NO I bootstrapped myself to where I am ALL BY MYSELF with zero help from anybody and zero luck and if you didn't do the same it's because I'M ACTUALLY BETTER THAN YOU and work harder than you hashtag meritocracy stop policing my journey"

I have received so much help from so many people and been so incredibly lucky to get where I am. That doesn't negate the fact that I am a hard worker, but there are plenty of hard workers with immeasurable amounts of talent who don't get the opportunities that I have.

If you find yourself pearl-clutching over a tweet that simply acknowledges that luck DOES play a significant role in everyone's achievements and overall success; if you find yourself defending some non-existent meritocracy, kindly get over yourself. Siri mute thread 👋🏻

I'm back because this incredibly damaging mindset right here is exactly what keeps underprivileged people feeling like they just aren't working hard enough or aren't smart enough or aren't talented enough to be successful when the truth is that the system is rigged against them.

You're right, I'm not special. I was lucky enough to be born an able-bodied US citizen. I was lucky enough to receive a good education and I was lucky to meet people who recognized potential in me and who gave me opportunities. I didn't get that because I was more deserving.

Luck and hard work are not 2 mutually exclusive things—and nowhere in my thread did I say that. Of course people should work hard and of course being able to recognize patterns is important, but the myth that hard work alone is the formula for success is actually damaging.

And frankly if the formula for success was that easy to replicate, literally everybody would be successful. But there are tons of talented creators who still haven't been discovered because they simply haven't been in the right place at the right time yet.