Given the choice between taking responsibility for lack of success in a given arena and blaming others for keeping you down, many will choose to blame others. There is comfort in a narrative that it’s not you, but some external conspiracy to keep you from what you were entitled to.
See also:
- Twitter thread about how Stripe and YC are mafia bosses became a big viral meme
- A narcissistic tendency is to blame others rather than take responsibility
- Another example that the easiest person to fool is yourself
Links to this note
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On one very special day, Taravangian was the smartest person in the world. In a single effort, he scrawled a codex that laid forth a plan to save the world that would make him king of all things. Unfortunately, he’s not always intelligent enough to understand his own plan.
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Being successful is mostly luck but working smartly (skill plus hard work) increases your luck. The trick is to balance intellectual honesty (it’s mostly luck) with controlled self-deception (success is due to skill and hard work). If you are too honest, you become pessimistic and if you’re too self-deceptive you get a false sense that everyone less successful is lazy or dumb.