

Three Roads To The Top Of The Mountain - jerome_etienne
http://jacquesmattheij.com/three+roads+to+the+top+of+the+mountain

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tuhin
_from what I've seen in the people around me that 'made' it without a
tremendous amount of luck or access to outside capital, starting from 0 with
nothing to show for themselves but the shirts on their backs and their skills_

Love the way Jacques removed the outliers Mark and Bill from the discussion in
the very beginning. Every advise is well reasoned and articulated with
precision.

Of course, in the middle of your journey you might find your own shortcut
trail to being in the first road, till then keep trying. Keep Hacking!

~~~
shushuni
How is Mark an outlier relatively to the sentence you have quoted? He started
from 0 and had nothing to show besides the flip flops on his feet and his
skills.

The two arguable factors are luck and outside capital. Are you sure luck
played such a great factor in his case ? and was his decision to take outside
funding at that stage unnecessary?

~~~
Kyrce
He was raised in Westchester County and went to Philips Exeter, then Harvard.

Many others have as well, and have not done what he did. But that still
doesn't qualify as "starting from zero" or "nothing to show."

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codeslush
This was the first lengthy article I read today and what a great way to start
the day! It's not sexy - it's not hip - it's just some good old fashioned
advice framed in a way that anyone should be able to understand. I especially
appreciate the way he defined "The Top."

"someone that I helped (this will be my downfall one day)"

I doubt this will be your downfall! It's likely a major contributor to your
rising!!! I know you only from your contributions to HN, and now your blog
posts - and I hope you continue to provide your valuable insights to those
you've never met!

p.s. - I sure wish you would come back!

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rexf
A good read about working hard with constant learning. This 3rd road of 'Keep
Moving' reminds me of the Seinfeld Calendar
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1033433>).

Every day, you want to be able to have something to show for it. While it
won't pay off immediately, constantly learning new things and having the
experience to show for it will make you stronger, marketable, and ideally
self-sustainable.

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mark_l_watson
Good read, and basically my strategy: measure success as relative freedom from
worry, time for self and professional development, accruing assets, and lack
of debt. Achieve his by focused hard work, but don't work so hard that you
burn out.

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tintin
But what if you really start at the bottom? Like a homeless person without
job. I wonder if those rules could also be applied to them. Because if they
do, I would like to tell the guys in the street...

~~~
rythie
To a homeless person, I could well imagine the top is a regular well paying
job and a home they own - Which should be achievable in 10 years with hard
work, education, internships, career ladder.

The top of the mountain is relative to where you are now. For many people at
the 'top', may actually consider that the bottom, especially if they were born
into it. The top in their case is Bill Gates, Zuckerburg etc. e.g. the
Winklevoss twins.

~~~
tintin
Ofcourse everybody has a different top. But most stories like this one start
with a descent position. But even the crappiest job can be a million miles
away when you don't have access to education, internship, a career ladder.

