> Point is that you can always make opportunities happen even in hard times.

Always?

I work harder than anybody I know personally. I am constantly learning new things. People ask me all the time how I "know this stuff", and that has been true since I was a kid in a desert town in the middle of nowhere that only had a library to learn from.

I have tried many, many ideas and failed. I'm halfway through life now. I've missed many opportunities in hindsight, likely due to my narrow fixation on details. This is an aspect of HFA, which is something I've only recently learned about myself.

I think what you've said is factually correct. But not everyone is equipped to exploit the opportunities that may exist, and may struggle to be aware of their limitations. Furthermore, life doesnt guarantee you anything - luck is always an element.

> Leaves more for people willing to work and to learn things.

> I upvoted your comment out of pity.

Even the hardest working people can luck out and become frustrated. That doesn't change the fact that their best stategy is probably not to give up, but maybe be a bit more empathetic?

Thanks for a thought-provoking response. I was careful not to say one can always succeed in hard times. And I certainly didn’t talk about guarantees. But yes, one can make opportunities happen in the States. Sometimes or even most of the times we fail. I spent $1.4 million of my retirement money trying to beat Craigslist. The wife sure wasn’t thrilled. Nor when I tried to take on Gmail.

I was sure lucky, but I put myself in luck’s way as often as possible. That’s after I got away from home in my teens after years of neglect, beatings, depression, suicidal ideation, and sexual abuse.

Be more empathetic to someone being snide after I made a sincere post trying to offer up some hope in hard times? Fuck that noise.

Fair enough! Sharing your story will no doubt help somebody experiencing self doubt, and that could be exactly what somebody out there needs right now.

Dude, I wrote the book on self-doubt! The only thing that ever kept me going before a certain level of success was my observation that although I’m never the smartest guy around, I always know people dumber than I am who succeeded in similar areas by just showing up and grinding. I still overthink and sabotage myself.

No need to be patronizing. Pointing out that an argument is not a good one doesn't necessarily mean one holds the opposite view.

Just because people though once that situation A was the case while it was actually situation B, and now it seems again that situation A is the case doesn't mean it is necessarily again situation B, only that it might be situation B. It also actually might be situation A. But if it is actually situation B, extrapolating from the past is not a good argument. Doesn't mean that there are no other good arguments.

I was patronizing in response to someone being patronizing to me.

No regrets at all.

I'm not nearly as successful as you but agree wholeheartedly - there's 8 billion humans on the planet with constantly refreshing interests, and it's absolutely preposterous to think this doesn't provide a recurring, increasing source of opportunity

Meh, be careful with the word successful. You have no idea how successful I am. I’m way better off than most people, way poorer than many folks on HN, but I could be a complete jerk, or someone who pissed it all away, or someone who abandoned his family. Those things and so many others would disqualify me as successful in my book.

To me if you’re living in alignment with your values and aren’t too much of a drain on society most of the time, you’re successful.

You seem really unpleasant. It's nice that you were successful and all, but I'm not sure why you need to rub it in the face of people who are still trying to be successful.

Things obviously change over time. It's not non sequitur to claim that opportunities have shrunk over time. Bringing up counter-examples of opportunities that existed 40 years ago is not an argument.

I don't know why you think opportunity must be constant. I don't think you would have had much success with your .com startup mentality in 300BC.

Can you tell me where I was trying to rub anything in anyone’s face other than responding to direct insults? The original point of my post was that you’re never too late, and there are tons of opportunities here in the USA. The last thing I want to do is rub anything in anyone’s face, especially considering financial success is highly relative, and has almost no bearing on who you are as a person.

> I don't think you would have had much success with your .com startup mentality in 300BC.

Disagree? I’m a survivor. I would have looked around and tried to figure out the best ways not to die and to keep my family safe using what resources I had. Most people are less paranoid than I am and are willing to just get along. My instinct is to get a little ahead so I have a buffer.