Have you seen these types of articles before? Things like, “10 Things Successful People Do Differently“.

The common logic derived is that if it helped them get success, it should be somewhat helpful to you, right?

But this type is fundamentally flawed and could very well make you worse off. We are so in awe of these successful people, we don’t even consider that there might be some other huge factors at play. For example Luck.

As the saying goes, “Be brave. Take Risks. Nothing can substitute experience.” However, consider all the people who are bankrupt. No doubt, they took risks too. So, where’s their success?

If we only listen to the winner’s story, there’s no balancing force of bankrupt people telling us to be more careful. If you only take the advice of the so called successful people and ignore all the failures, you’re going to be left with a heavily distorted view of reality. No one really knows what it takes to become successful. Therefore, when listening to the advice of successful people, be skeptical and make sure you aren’t getting fooled. Instead, consider the failures and perhaps you’ll learn more.