Don’t Let Other’s Success Cloud Your Own
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Hey Indiepreneurs,
Sometimes, people just get lucky. It’s hard to watch, seeing all these
people succeed while you’re just stuck, laboring away.
The current fiasco is this whole GameStop thing. Typically, when someone
invests $50,000 in overvalued stock, they lose money. But this time,
thanks to some social manipulation and just plain dumb luck, he becomes a billionaire instead.
And he’s not the only one striking it rich.
The lagging story, of course, will be about the people who lost
everything. I was in high school during the dot com crash, so I’ve seen
how this kind of thing ends. But, to quote Liz Lemon, that’s later. Maybe we’ll be dead by then.
The thing is that so much of who wins and who loses in these kinds of
situations is based on dumb luck. Heck, taking a bigger step back, just
being born in the situation we have with our particular talents and
temperament feels like a cosmic dice roll.
Back when I was actively trying to push about 3 different books onto
agents, I would occasionally walk into the Barnes & Noble near my
office, look at some of the garbage on the shelf and think, “they took
this over me?”
Yep, they did. Whether because of their social media presence, knowing
the right people, writing the right particular theme at the right time,
or just plain dumb luck, that book got picked up and mine didn’t.
(As a side note, that Barnes & Noble is no longer there, murdered by Jeff Bezos)
What is there to do?
My best suggestion: ignore the success of others.
That person’s book getting published doesn’t have one wit to do with me.
Dreaming that I could have picked up a few shares of GameStop at the
right time doesn’t make me one wit better, nor does being jealous of
those who did.
We each have the situation that we have. The measure is what we’re doing
with the time and resources that we have. Sure, we can learn from some
of the successful people out there, potentially finding tips to do
things better. But the only real measuring stick we have is against us
yesterday, the day before, the year before. Are we getting better,
becoming better people? Or are we staying the same?
Those other people who got where they were either through dumb luck or
cosmic luck? Screw them. They’re not you. And wishing you were–or even
worse, wishing to see them torn down–is never going to do anything to
make you better.
The Links
- Reducing political content on Facebook? But without angry political fights, what will be left?
- I already shared one of his songs above (and one last week), but I stumbled on Nick Lutsko guy, and I can’t get his songs out of my head.
Service Dog Update
Sherman got a professional hair cut this time, and he really looks like
a doof.
Poodles lack of shedding is fantastic. Their typically non-dog smell is
also great. Paying $100+ a month for haircuts is less great, as is
spending 4 hours trying to do it ourselves.
It’s the trade off.
Anyway, it’s always funny when he gets his haircut. He turns from this
mature looking dog with a beautiful coat and wise beard to this pointed
face cartoon character. It was especially notable this time since we
went about 2 months between cuts due to our bathroom remodeling.
Our cat Ceres freaked out when she saw him, thinking he was a completely
different dog.
On the plus side, he feels really, really soft.
