There are no fucking Keys to Success

Are a lot of people cursing in their Medium titles, or is it just me?

I don't disagree with the author's statement that the only reliable chance at success is to work hard.

However, I think he's taking down the "keys to success" phrase too easily because he's misinterpreting it. There's an awful lot of mindset chicanery involved in getting yourself into a place where "just do the work" actually rings true and you start living it. In the same way that "just do the work" is true and is the only controllable way to succeed, it's putting in the work on little things and groking that it actually works that's the only controllable way to the epiphany.

The "keys to success" advice is all aimed at getting someone those little successes that convince them they can get bigger successes if they work harder and longer. When a piece of advice works it just kind of clicks, like a key, but here's no telling which piece of advice will work for a person at this moment. So you kind of hand them a keyring and try one key at a time to see if the person is ready for any of them.

People searching through "keys to success" options are hoping they'll stumble into a key that clicks for them because they don't yet grok the hard work thing.