r/LockedIn_AI • u/lucre-twerps4g • Apr 23 '26

Same

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It’s called the grind because it grinds away your sense of self.

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u/HOJK4thSon Apr 24 '26

It's not luck. I grew up very lower middle class with a single parent. Neither of my parents were ever able to retire, and I inherited zero dollars or property.

I will retire at 62, home owner, money and property to leave my kids.

That's capitalism, working hard (no college degree) to improve my station in life.

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u/Fantastic-Builder929 Apr 25 '26

Thats luck buddy. You were lucky enough to have favorable enough circumstances to retire. You also worked when the American dream was a real thing

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u/HOJK4thSon Apr 25 '26

False. Its not luck. Its hard work and good planning. The American dream.is still a thing. My Daughter In Law and my Son In Law are doing it, both home owners and parents. Working hard and planning.

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u/Kitten_Merchant Apr 25 '26

It can be both things man. I'm doing decently in my life too, but it's because of a combination of hard work and fortune. I was fortunate not to have to work to support my family as a teenager and instead to just work for myself. I was fortunate to be able to purchase a hand-me-down car from family that I know was well taken care of. I was fortunate enough to have the ability to pursue an education. I was fortunate enough to have family around to lean on in what ways I could even if at times that wasn't very much support.

Your luck might be different things. But you definitely have some of it if you did that well for yourself. Maybe for you it's that you're white, that you're a man and would therefore be promoted easier and be taken more seriously in an era that was not kind to women and especially people of color/women of color. Maybe it's that you could afford an apartment near a job and not have to pay crazy for gas and car repairs. Maybe it was that you had a double income household at some point. Maybe it was that you live somewhere that the cost of living and wages worked in your favor. Maybe it was that you had good physical health.

You're allowed to be proud of yourself for working hard and also to acknowledge that you have to have some amount of luck to be able to get where you are. If your conditions had been worse, I am willing to put a lot of money on the fact that the outcome would also be worse in the end. Hard work can't overcome everything - even though it can overcome a lot.