[femto]

Recognise the fact that he was in the right place at the right time. If a few things outside his control were slightly different, he would have come away with little to show for his effort. He is the outlier, not you.

Hard work leads to a comfortable life (if you don't start with a disadvantage). Hard work and luck leads to a windfall. No luck means no windfall.

I've learned this through observation, as I was in a team of about 12 who developed and demonstrated the first OFDM WiFi system. After the initial project ended, we went different ways and there was a huge spread in payout (2000x) over subsequent years. It's proof to me that you can't define "wasted time" in terms of subsequent windfall. Despite the differing rewards, we all did the same work. had an equal part in the experience and get to say "I did that".

Other examples show that some of the most valuable work doesn't result in windfalls. How many of the scientists who developed vaccines, which have saved millions of lives, have several hundred million dollars to their name? I'd guess approximately zero.