Even if this is true, that Thomas Alba Edison really failed over one thousand times while creating a light bulb, then it must have been in the year 1878. He had a lot of money already. According to his Wikipedia page, he was offered $10,000 for his quadruplex telegraph in the year 1874 (adjusted for inflation in 2023: $266,778.07). It wouldn’t be wrong to say he had around at minimum the equivalent of the present $500,000 in 1878. Nothing much was at stake for him. But for you, it's different. It's not just like a hard video game mission that you can retry over a thousand times like him and get the same amount of dopamine each time. There is just a loose thread holding you, and the more you fail, the more it weakens. So in a way, it seems like you were just made to fail. Otherwise, things would’ve been different.
Like, for example, it’s not 1997. No one will read what you wrote now in 2023. Who reads children’s books nowadays, or any book from a new author? There are movies and series, youtube, and content that’s free and easy—and better. Plus, with the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT, a machine can create brilliantly than you.
You do understand this metaphor and how it’s supposed to work, how it's supposed to open your eyes and motivate you, but it’s not working. It’s different. Really. No one can understand you, because they’ve never been in your place. They have never walked wearing your shoes.
You do know people have fought in the war they didn’t want, and died. People just die out of some stupid disease or some cosmic fluke that they completely do not deserve. Some have to live in extreme conditions. Through war and poverty. They have to face the ugly and the unfairness of life. But no, it is different. You wouldn’t have complained if you were there, because at least there would’ve been a pretty justifiable reason, right? Unlike the situation you are in currently, you don’t know what’s happening, and you’re failing. It’s just where you are right now, that’s the problem, that deserves all the complaining. If you were to succeed, you would’ve at least realized a clue or gotten some tiny glimmer of spark.
Like this old guy did. Colonel Sanders was 62 years old when he founded KFC.
Or this guy. Stan Lee published his first hit comic “The Fantastic Four” when he was nearly 40 years old.
Or this guy. J. R. R. Tolkien was 45 years old when he published “The Hobbit”. 65 when he published “The Lord Of The Rings”.
…and so on.
You know their stories already. You keep telling yourself it’s different. They were born in the right place and at the right time. When they were around, the world was lacking. They filled it. It’s 2023, all the good things are done and taken, and there is no place for newcomers.
You can’t be rich by making a search engine now. You can’t make a social networking site. You can’t make an operating system. You can’t even make a simple app (let’s say a calculator app), because there will already exist something better than what you could make. Something that emerged lately and succeeded is only because of pure luck. There were probably equally deserving thousands that never saw the light. I am sure there were thousands of competitors for the TikTok app that were equally deserving and promising.
We are only made to fail then? All eight billion of us? Or, is it just you? Probably just you. Something must be missing in you, some magic ingredient. Because you are not the only one who's too ugly, too dumb, too incapable, too underprivileged. You do know not everyone in the world looks like anime characters, has clean drinking water, or has a smartphone or a computer to watch YouTube videos. Well just because you've got a laptop or a smartphone doesn't mean your lack of motivation is invalid. It is valid, of course. You have a right to be a failure. The Universe is against you.
Let me get this straight, you can’t label the stories of someone who was already born already your status as motivating. You say they were born in the right place and at the right time, to the right people. It’s different. And when someone from a lower status, for lack of a better word, gets success with tools that you easily take for granted—it’s different again. It’s something that makes you say, “Ugh, just leave me alone.”
What exactly do you need?
There are only two options:
a) make new things and take risks and hope to rise out.
b) do what the crowd is doing and take risks and hope to rise out.
But if you were to rise, you would have at least gotten a better mindset or some great courage and hope, right? Like all these people.
Marie Curie. Steve Jobs. Kevin Feige. Walt Disney. Henry Ford
Of course they were anxious too, afraid in the beginning while trying new things, or trying to stand out from the crowd, but still, there must be something that kept them going. It surely wasn’t a leap of faith. It can’t be. It must have been some miracle or some enlightenment, which, sadly, you might never experience. The Universe neglected you, or just forgot to put some sparks inside you. So in a way, you are a manufacturing defect, your failure is not your fault. And all these people would also have failed if they were in your place, and you would have won if you were in their place. That’s for sure.
So, just say, “you wouldn’t get it” if someone asks, and sleep more—all day and night. Maybe something might come up while you’re dreaming. The Universe might give you the missing ingredient that you rightfully deserve. Did you know that James Cameron got his idea about “The Terminator” in his dreams, while he was sleeping?
