[jerf]

"What would you have done if you didn't have parents to mooch off of for a year? What if you had a family to support?"

What if a cow comes stomping into your front room and demands that you feed her shredded hundred dollar bills until she's full enough to tap dance her way to victory in the upcoming school competition?

Hypothetical aren't arguments, they're just anchorless questions. You have to look around yourself, figure out what to do, and do it. It may take extreme measures and you may encounter setbacks, but you can't let hypotheticals stop you. What do you have, right now? You don't have to worry about the hypothetical things happening to other people. How can you leverage it? Can you move somewhere that has more stuff? Do you need to declare bankruptcy? Do you need to find a private charity to help you out? Sometimes drastic action is called for.

Very few of us are handed life on a silver platter, and a goodly number of those people get the silver platter yanked at some time during their life. We all got problems. Solve them to the best of your abilities, or don't. I'm not guaranteeing success, because nobody's guaranteed success, but if you just give up on self control and discipline you're guaranteeing failure.

[Cadsby]

The difference is my hypothetical is a realistic one many people face. Yours is just pure fantasy with no connection to reality.

Yes personal motivation and attitude to succeed are large factors, ones we should encourage, but the empirical evidence heavily suggest your personal circumstances and level of support are equally as important, if not more so.

I'm a little tired of people with multiple advantges largely ignoring them in favor of the "I'm so great and awesome and all you need to do is be like me" mentality.