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ANd more often than not, people who aren't afraid to fail and make poor decisions end up bankrupt. For every risky startup that made millions, there are hundreds who lost everything. People don't talk about that though. The greatest predictor of success is a history of success. The greatest predictor of failure is a history of failure. Thats the true reality. Although your quote sounds so much more positive and inspirational, which is why it spreads like a weed.
You nailed it.
The reason it spreads like a weed is that those who hype failure tend to be smoking weed.
ANd more often than not, people who aren't afraid to fail and make poor decisions end up bankrupt. For every risky startup that made millions, there are hundreds who lost everything. People don't talk about that though. The greatest predictor of success is a history of success. The greatest predictor of failure is a history of failure. Thats the true reality. Although your quote sounds so much more positive and inspirational, which is why it spreads like a weed.
To be clear, are you saying to not try because you might fail? That guarantees failure. Most successful people have failed miserably many, many times. If someone fails (and doesn't learn anything from failure) they will continue to fail. Let yourself fail, then be harshly self-critical to learn what you could improve. Don't look for excuses, don't blame other people, or the economy, or the wealthy. Blame yourself, and ask what you could personally have done better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bobsell
Not for everyone. Out of touch Silicon Valley types don't have any pain in their failure. They crash a company, get a golden parachute and start another company, crash it, golden parachute, lather rinse repeat. They get richer and richer every time they crash a company.
They don't learn anything new, they just keep doing the same thing over and over.
Ordinary people cannot do this. They get told they're not worth hiring because they're out of work (employers discriminating against the unemployed) and when people get laid off they get judged harshly as if it was their fault that they must be bad at what they did (and it has nothing to do with the sociopath founder who crashed his third company this decade and getting a golden parachute)
That's not the ONLY way to learn
Stop saying that this is the only way to learn. That's out of touch.
People can learn by reading books, taking classes (online and in person) and learning from other people's mistakes.
Out of touch.
They never failed at the bottom. These out of touch silicon valley types are not ordinary people. They are corrupt cronies.
[Snip.]
There is no double standard. I started at the bottom. 99% of successful people dealt with the same BS you and I do. They were good enough to succeed. I have never once 'preached employer infallibility'. Please actually read what is written and stop blindly parroting the same things over and over. Most successful people absolutely failed at the bottom. They learn from that failure, and use that to get ahead. I've done that personally. You're right, failure isn't the only way to learn. It is the quickest, however. Intelligent people can somewhat easily show how they learned from failure, and show what skills they learned that translate to better jobs.
With respect, as long as as person keeps looking for excuses (Mod cut.) that person will continue to struggle. An acquaintance of mine who is a very successful entrepreneur gave very similar advice. He had seven companies go out of business before one succeeded. That one that succeeded showed up on the news, in the Wall Street Journal, etc. People like you would ONLY see that one success, and call that person an out of touch silicon valley type who doesn't understand failure. You simply don't understand what happens behind the scenes before someone builds the skills needed to succeed.
Last edited by PJSaturn; 02-03-2020 at 08:47 AM..
Reason: Orphaned (reference to comment which has been deleted).
To be clear, are you saying to not try because you might fail? That guarantees failure. Most successful people have failed miserably many, many times. If someone fails (and doesn't learn anything from failure) they will continue to fail. Let yourself fail, then be harshly self-critical to learn what you could improve. Don't look for excuses, don't blame other people, or the economy, or the wealthy. Blame yourself, and ask what you could personally have done better.
Who is "you" and try what???? That is 100% dependent on your experience, history, resources, qualifications, and what you are attempting. You see, the world is much more complicated than you make it out to be on these stupid cliche one sentence quotes. People who are successful understand the risks and make calculated risks.
Example 1: You want to take your family's life savings and open a bar, but have no experience running a business or the industry. You also are naive, think it will be cool to own a bar, and think it won't be that hard and will figure it out as you go. You don't understand your competition, the risks, the failure rate, etc. In this situation, you would be a fool to try and you should not do it. If on the other hand, you have years of experience managing bars/restaurants, have financial backers, have a partner with knowledge and resources, understand the risks, then you should maybe try.
My sister's in a situation like this of sorts. Medical technologist trying to get into a new career who my tech cousins convinced to get into the scrum master field. She got the certificate for it but she has no tech education or experience and every job I've ever seen for scrum wants it. She keeps applying but has no clue and she's never been the type to do her homework or any work for that matter and frankly even if she got a job doing it, I'll bet she'd be miserable and hate it. I tried to tell our mom to talk her out of it but no one listens to me so. I don't see this going well. *shrug*
Who is "you" and try what???? That is 100% dependent on your experience, history, resources, qualifications, and what you are attempting. You see, the world is much more complicated than you make it out to be on these stupid cliche one sentence quotes. People who are successful understand the risks and make calculated risks.
Example 1: You want to take your family's life savings and open a bar, but have no experience running a business or the industry. You also are naive, think it will be cool to own a bar, and think it won't be that hard and will figure it out as you go. You don't understand your competition, the risks, the failure rate, etc. In this situation, you would be a fool to try and you should not do it. If on the other hand, you have years of experience managing bars/restaurants, have financial backers, have a partner with knowledge and resources, understand the risks, then you should maybe try.
I agree with most of that.
I also contend trying to start a bar (and failing) will teach you an enormous amount about the restaurant industry. Learn how to fail as quickly (and cheaply) as possible if you want to succeed. Life isn't as black and white as you make it out to be. Don't take your life savings and dump it into a business. Find small ways to try, and let yourself fail.
People who are successful understand the risks, but also understand short term losses are welcomed, provided they are measured. Those losses are how a person gains experience to be successful.
The best career changes happen when you let something you're presently do doing grow into something else. It can be something you got from raising a family, your job, a hobby a volunteer thing you do. I even know a guy that started a business housing newly freed felons from his experience from both inside and outside of jail. The real key is to keep doing something, and when you come across something that's a pain in the butt, take some time to figure out a better way. That first little thing may not be anything more than problem solving, but the more you problem solve the closer you get to a stage where you can try something else.
Of course, I'm highly skewed towards going into business for one's self. The premade jobs are going to inherently go for the younger set.
I always took whatever I could get and then advanced on the job. This is usually possible within a large organization. I worked for two large corporations in NYC for about 37 years. In the first 7 years at the first corporation I held three different positions. Each one led to a better salary and more responsibility. In my second job for 28 years I had three main positions. The first and second positions were an increase in money and responsibility. The third job was as a technical position, so a reduction in salary potential and responsibility, but a huge win in a technically challenging position with a lot to learn and mostly working on my own. That lasted for about 16 years until I retired and was the best job I ever had in terms of job satisfaction and enjoyment.
To answer the question you have to be in an environment where there are opportunities and movement. In my case I moved from LA, where even with a college degree I had no chance of getting a decent job, to NYC where there were many opportunities if you were willing to work to get them and keep them.
Someone I got to know posting on C-D changed careers within the last couple of years. She had been in one field, was downsized, and then was primarily making ends meet by driving for Uber. She changed careers to an OTR trucker and mentioned on Facebook that she'd have "made more money stocking shelves at Walmart." The lifestyle is stressful and she lives on the truck full-time.
A friend of mine from high school went to college around 30 and graduated several years back. I don't remember the specific major (might hve been photography), but it wasn't marketable. She ended up getting a job as a flight attendant. While she enjoys the work, she's always stressed about money and she's developed some health issues recently. She wants to have a consistent home and wants to do the wife/mommy thing, but at 35 and with this kind of heavy traveling lifestyle, it's not looking promising.
When do you throw in the towel and take whatever you can get to stabilize your lifestyle?
To answer your question directly, a whole lot sooner than your friend the truck driver.
Things are so different now than when I was starting out in life(the 70’s). Back then, we were intently focused on the traditional life of getting a decent job, starting a family, and buying a home. All of those things kept your nose to the grindstone. There was no job hopping as their is today, you couldn’t afford it.
Someone I got to know posting on C-D changed careers within the last couple of years. She had been in one field, was downsized, and then was primarily making ends meet by driving for Uber. She changed careers to an OTR trucker and mentioned on Facebook that she'd have "made more money stocking shelves at Walmart." The lifestyle is stressful and she lives on the truck full-time.
A friend of mine from high school went to college around 30 and graduated several years back. I don't remember the specific major (might hve been photography), but it wasn't marketable. She ended up getting a job as a flight attendant. While she enjoys the work, she's always stressed about money and she's developed some health issues recently. She wants to have a consistent home and wants to do the wife/mommy thing, but at 35 and with this kind of heavy traveling lifestyle, it's not looking promising.
When do you throw in the towel and take whatever you can get to stabilize your lifestyle?
I doubt the flight attendant part is the only thing keeping your friend from finding a husband.
As for the topic, I've thrown in the towel. I tried for, I thnk it was 5 years to get into the field I had a degree in. I failed. Now I work for the PO. It's physical work and overnight, which has competely killed any sort of fitness I had as well as various plans.
Go back to school! Get trained in something technical! It all sounds so jice except my experience is do just that and get nothing for it . I'm disgusted with myself for faliling, being stuck in this job, and getting in worse and worse shape unable to even combat against it because I'm tired all the time. Can't understand how people can be happy with this quality of life even if they have a family to go home too.
Failing as quickly and as often as possible is the fastest way to be successful. People who don't try things because they throw in the towel and are afraid to fail are people who never get very far.
or they just stay on the bottom forever, which I find more realistic to believe.
LA is full with failed careers (in the entertainment industry) and people have to make adjustments.
If you go to college to study photography, well, that is not very smart, if you want a job that pays your bills.
I think you should throw in the towel if you cannot pay your bills and/or if you hate going to work. No one should live a life like that. If you have a stomach ache thinking about your work, you should change careers, life is too short to be unhappy about something you can influence.
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