Do "nice guys finish last?" Or first? Do quitters never win? Or is stubbornness the real enemy? Does confidence rule the day? When it is just a delusion?
Success doesn't have to be something you see only on T.V. It's less to be something you see only on TV. It's less about being perfect than knowing what you're best at being properly aligned with your context. You don't need to be literally insane, like Jure Robic, but sometimes an ugly duckling can be a swan if it finds the right pond. The thing that sets you apart, the habits you may have tried to banish, the things you were taunted for in school, may ultimately grant you an unbeatable advantage.
They thought you didn't have control over anything but you choices. And if you can't control something you shouldn't worry about it.
Here's that Epictetus guy again:
Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and in one word, whatever are not our own actions.
If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten. When there's no clear path to success, no relevant model for what you're trying to achieve, trying crazy things may be the only way to solve the issue.
—Eric Barker, (resource) Barking Up the Wrong Tree
