Hacker News Reader

Comment by throwaway103 | Hacker News Reader

I have asked the WHY. I have been quite ambitious since my childhood. I have had grand plans to be a neuro-surgeon, but it failed, then I wanted to be a physicist, but couldn't, then I loved programming and made it into a career. I love everything about it, but I am not as good as I would like to be. My ambitions sometimes hurt me. I wonder at how Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Bill Gates do it, and how I can't. It's quite infuriating.

Thanks for your kind words.

View on HN

> programming (...) I love everything about it, but I am not as good as I would like to be. I wonder at how Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Bill Gates do it, and how I can't.

For one thing, you're probably way better programmer than Richard Branson is :)

On a more serious note: not everyone is wired for a massive success - for example, not everyone is capable of consistently working 100 hours per week (like Musk). Also, even if you are (I have a friend who could probably beat Musk in an iron man-style workaholic marathon) massive success in business is still mostly down to luck, which is another factor (apart from genetics) that you can't control. In the grand scheme of things, it's far better to accept who you are and be happy about the good things than be butt-hurt about not being a billionaire.

That last part is truly a good advice. Striving to become somebody one is not meant to be is only going to make one profoundly unhappy in life. What's worse, one will probably be wasting their potential given by the universe by refusing to do things one is meant to do. Being at the wrong place in life and not accomplishing anything by the end of the road will only make a negative personal contribution to the human civilization (in the grand scheme of things).

Good one :)

Acceptance is quite difficult while our entire culture primes us to be uber successful in all our pursuits. But humility and doing one's best is a virtue to achieve.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com