Alain de Botton examines our ideas of success and failure — and questions the assumptions underlying these two judgements. Is success always earned? Is failure? He makes an eloquent, witty case to move beyond snobbery to find true pleasure in our work. An older video (from 2009), and relevant more than ever.
Tag: Success
Famous failures: worth another watch [Video]
Sometimes it is the little things that drag us down more than the colossal mess-ups. This video reminds us of a few famous failures.
Why you should – and most people don’t [Article]
An interesting post about why some find success & others don’t.
Failure is an option – where would we be without it? [Article]
Famous Failures. Worth pondering over.
“What would be the point of doing anything? I think failure gives it what gives success its meaning.”
The Childhood Age That Predicts Future Success | LiveScience [Article]
If you want to see which kids will grow up to be the most successful adults, visit their second grade classroom, according to some new research from the University of Edinburgh.
“These findings imply that basic childhood skills, independent of how smart you are, how long you stay in school, or the social class you started off in, will be important throughout your life,” said the study’s authors, Stuart Ritchie and Timothy Bates.
A desire for ordinary superpowers [Article]
Scott Adams posits that there is a correlation between one’s fear of embarrassment and the level of success he/she achieves.
I would nominate for my preferred ordinary super power the ability to not feel embarrassment.
Bull crap special: Management/ Success/ Leadership [Article]
There’s a reason that Scott Adams’ Dilbert cartoons resonate with most people working in industry (or even otherwise). Scott’s latest missive on his blog calls the bluff on “charisma”, “success”, “leadership”, & “management”. In true Scott Adams’ style, he backs it up with his reasoning.
Consider the thousands of different books on management/success/leadership. If any of this were real science, all managers would learn the same half-dozen secrets to success and go on to great things. The reality of the business world is more like infinite monkeys with typewriters. Sooner or later a monkey with an ass pimple will type something that makes sense and every management expert in the world will attribute the success to the ass pimple.
Alain de Botton – Pleasures & Success of Work [TED Talk]
If you’ve not heard Alain de Botton‘s keen & (witty observations), & are (or know someone who is) in a job-threatening situation, well worth the 15 minutes of your busy life! “Because it’s bad enough not getting what you want, but it’s even worse to have an idea of what it is you want and find out at the end of the journey that it isn’t, in fact, what you wanted all along.”
Time
The ability to delay gratification is one of the best indicators of future success.