elfs | (Reply)

From: (Anonymous)

More often than not, what we consider "luck" as applied to success, is merely a combination of skill and hard work that filters opportunities out of the white noise of random events.

Two children may be born into the same circumstances, be exposed to the same opportunities and challenges, yet one may be successful while the other isn't. The difference? Skill, and the willingness to work hard and make sacrifices to achieve success.

Reading your blog (in hopes that you will find some room in your life again one of these days to resume publishing fiction, if truth be told) I envy your apparent continuing ability to learn. As you wrote in a previous blog post: you have the one skill that matters. Learning. Your mind appears (note how I phrase it) capable of absorbing information in considerable quantity at considerable speed, and process it in a profitable manner. (This is, of course, only my personal impression gained from reading what you publish; nothing more.)

My computer career started at the age of 14 with one hour a week on a Commodore PET 16. (That's all we had at school.) I spent the week writing code, on paper, followed by one frantic hour of entering said code, running it, and debugging it. I was able to absorb text books on programming in a matter of days, and I managed to make the most of whatever education I had available to me. About 99% of all the skills I have used throughout my IT career were self taught.

When I passed the age of 50, I noticed a marked drop in my ability to do the above. It has severely affected my market value as an Internet application and website developer (not that I've ever been at your level to start with). While one keeps one's mind "fit" by exercising it daily, genetics and overall health do seem to play a role here.

Having said that, I continue to do the best I can, until natural selection or retirement catch up with me. One either exploits opportunity through skill, or not. It's a matter of attitude and capability more than anything else. Luck may be a factor (for example I never had access to the sort of education that you appear to have had) but then again, I suspect you worked harder at getting where you are now than I have, so your achievements are, well, achievements, and therefore well deserved.