To think that truly successful people just have a completely different mindset?

[AdeptEagle]

It’s not just about luck, connections, or talent - some people just think differently, take more risks and push themselves in ways others don’t. Is success really down to mindset or is that an oversimplification?

Of course it’s an oversimplification. Of course those other things play a part. FFS.

Why so rude?

Because OP is implying people who’ve had a hard life and are struggling are to blame for just not having the right mindset. As if it’s that simple.

There’s no implication of that at all!

There fecking is! It's one of those daft troll posts to get everyone arguing. Moving swiftly on to the next post! Eye roll

It's often easier to take risks and push yourself if you have a safety net

I agree with you OP. Same life circumstances, very different outcomes - intelligence, drive, resilience, perseverance make people succeed in sometime most challenging circumstances, others just blame life.
Sometime it's precisely lack of safety net with pushes people to make it. This isn't all about taking risks but also about greeting your teeth and going ahead when others find it too hard.

I think they are definitely more prepared to take risks
Often more prepared to take advantage of others or be deceitful too.
The higher up I got in my career, the more deceitful /duplicitous people I came across.
I ended up taking a step back because I found it all so machiavellian at board room level

The really successful people I know rarely seem to just relax in front of the tv. They give everything 100% and nearly all their time is planned, so they're always busy doing something, sport, seeing friends, involvement in local issues, theatre, arts etc.

Depends how you define success, too. The hustle culture lot tend to have a very narrow understanding of what success can look like, and a resulting disdain for anyone who doesn’t meet that narrow definition.

I agree with you OP.

Completely agree OP - success is 90% mindset. But lots of people will tell you differently.

Or nothing to lose

Agreed. Some versions of "success " do not look at all like success to me.

I suppose it depends on your definition of successful. I know someone who is, IMO, a genius. He works hard if it’s something that sparks his interest but he doesn’t “take risks” and if it’s something he can’t be arsed with, he won’t do it. But he is incredibly well-respected in his field (because of the genius thing), so is pretty much allowed to do what he likes and is well-paid for it.

That’s an example of someone who I would say is successful purely because of talent rather than mindset.

I also can think of several people who do all that Apprentice-style “giving it 110%” bollocks but who aren’t succeeding because they aren’t actually much good at their chosen profession.

So, while I agree that mindset can be important, I don’t think it’s that alone.

My dad was one of those people who came from nothing - a tough, poverty-stricken council background. He worked over 60 hours a week from 26 years old right through to when he retired at 55. He achieved incredible success, both in his career and financially and retired early. It all comes down to your drive to succeed. He risked everything to make it happen, even putting his house down as collateral. So yes, I agree if you have drive you can succeed as I've witnessed it first hand. Sadly, he's also a workaholic because of his drive, so we suffered not growing up with him around a lot. Obviously, some do have it easier if they have support or help financially

I’m with you OP, it’s a mindset.

I’m not sure if it’s a learned mindset or one that’s just innate - perhaps that’s a bit of both?

And I have come across quite a lot of people at a senior level who are neither talented nor wildly driven but just incredibly duplicitous, prepared to exploit others or point the finger at them

I think that those with boundless energy do well too (the type who only need 5 hours sleep and no decompression time).

Oh crikey the number of people I’ve encountered who were promoted out of incompetence is terrifying.

I dunno. Maybe it's also that you have to actually have the confidence to believe in yourself. I had every advantage except that I lacked a benevolent father. He was just relentless in his criticism and negativity when I was a child. So all my success is meaningless to me, because in my head I'm still just a useless sack of shit like he said. People admire my success, they tell me all the time that I'm clever and impressive. It is impossible for me to believe them. Right before he died, he told me he was so proud of me. 😭

Yes, working at board level was totally eye opening.

Yes, seen this too

To be fair to OP, she didn't say successful people are always good human beings, just have different mindset. The above is one of variations of different mindset

What does truly successful mean? Being happy, raising happy children, making the world a little better? Somehow I don't think that's what you mean, but that's what I call truly successful.

Same. Making a positive contribution to the world, giving my children a happy and secure childhood, having good friendships and relationships with my family.