Yes, these post-hoc explanations for why someone is successful allow us to indulge in fantasies of success without providing any actionable advice that has actual empirical evidence.
I still get a kick out of the fact that the person that came up with Nerd Merit Badges is the same person that came up with the term fullstack and almost nobody mentions it or even gets the original meaning of the term.
So actually a full-stack developer, according to the person who coined the term, is not just someone who can do backend and front-end, but you need to have the design (and business) chops too.
Except the "paint drip" aspect of this successful person might be entirely irrelevant to their success. Imagine if Keith ate oatmeal every day for breakfast, and there was an "Oatmeal people" article describing why eating oatmeal for breakfast is the key to Ken's success. After all, it gives him long lasting energy, having a routine can be useful, it is simple to prepare and you can think about other things while making it, etc.
Or, for every "paint drip person", you might find another person who is equally as successful and devoted their entire energy to a single project or idea.
Well let’s say I find a super successful restaurant that makes its burritos one way. I’m amazed. I’m inspired. I write a book about it and describe the specific ways that they do things that make them successful.
Then a few years later, I find another super successful burrito restaurant. They make it completely opposite to what I wrote in my book.
It turns out the reasons for success runs deeper than the superficial things that you see people do day to day.
For every successful person that reads a book a week, there’s probably 5 that just laze on the couch.
> For every successful person that reads a book a week, there’s probably 5 that just laze on the couch.
I understand that not every successful person reads a book a week (or s/a book a week/any other "productive" habit often bandied about in articles like this), but I really doubt that very many successful people habitually laze on the couch.
