I've notice that these articles are good at generating one thing: envy. The problem with comparing oneself to the person portrayed in an essentially random article are many. But first and foremost is the utter lack of context: I'd argue that Lachy's peers at his high school would be better off comparing themselves to him. And even then I would hesitate, as luck really does count. The rest of us fall prey to a kind of assumption of universality: that his context is roughly the same as ours, and so the only difference are variables we can control. That's not true!

The one quote that I really like in the article was from his "fan" headmaster, David Gee. "I think he’s a great example of someone who has followed his passion, hasn’t let age be a barrier and hasn’t said ‘well I can’t do this because I’m 17’" That's a fantastic sentiment, and I share it. The most tragic reason to fail is because of some delusional belief that failure is tied to some innate quality like age.

Note that these two sentiments are not at odds! It's true that context can prevent your success, but we don't usually know which part of that context is to blame.