But you need quite a bit of luck just to start gaining exposure to these kinds of opportunities. That single 'luck out' event means everything; after the first major windfall or breakthrough, your experiences are distorted and they have little practical value for the average person. The bigger the windfall/breakthrough, the more true this is.

It's pretty easy to see where the 'value' is... Being exposed to people who are willing and able to give you access to that value is what's hard. It doesn't take much intelligence to find opportunities, especially if you've had some past success; then the opportunities find you.

Truly great opportunities are those that everyone else wants to be a part of; the ones that already-successful people are queueing up for... The ones that are impossible to get.

The kinds of opportunities that come out of nowhere and disrupt everything against all odds are so rare that you're better off assuming that they don't exist.