[netwanderer3]

This is most especially true in sports. For every tennis, soccer, NBA players that became professional, thousands of others had failed despite the fact they all started at a very young age and went through the same rigorous training throughout their lives.

Simply being better did not guarantee that they would make it. Example: Cesc Fabregas, the former Arsenal captain soccer player, often wondered how he could even made it into a professional soccer team. He still did not understand why many of his peers from La Masia Academy back in the days, despite having more talents and being so much better players than him, just could not succeed in the end.

Meritocracy is truly a false belief.

[matwood]

Because natural talent alone is not sufficient to be the best at something. It takes time and work. Fans only see the end result, and miss the life dedication to achieving that result. When genetic talent plus insane work ethic collide you get people like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James. Without a work ethic they all may have made it to the NBA, but I doubt we would have known their names. You also have people like Steph Curry, who at least on the surface isn't a genetic freak, but has been practicing basketball since before he could walk.

Knowing he’s ordinary, he’s always trying to improve himself. No one appreciates the agonizing effort he’s had to make. Now that his years of training have yielded such spectacular results, everybody’s talking about his ‘god-given talent.’ That’s how men who don’t try very hard comfort themselves.” -Musashi

[lawn]

Hard work and talent isn't enough either. We often say that you have to work smart, and work on the right thing.

People often don't know what to work on, so it's left up to chance. Some will simply luck into the right way to train.

And this is a good parallel to successful companies: many succeed just because they're lucky.

[dredmorbius]

You're missing the elements of chance, luck, timing, and more.

[hewrin]

Gotta love Musashi

[codegrappler]

A lot of successful people, especially in sports, say that because they’re humble. They’ve spent years putting in more work and dedication than others.