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Comment by jatins | Hacker News Reader

> I think a more interesting story would be about the people that grind for years and years and never make it.

I wonder the same for athletes. Was recently reading Nadal's biography and parts of book describe his routine in childhood and teenage. And my first thought on reading that was "what if he hadn't made it to the top?" because he essentially had no semblance of a regular childhood/teenage. Being out on the field at 5am day after day, year after year seems only worth it in hindsight if you make it to the top.

I guess, in the end, Gita captured this as well: the only way to be able to put extraordinary effort is to not care about the outcome.

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Tennis isn’t pro or bust, though. There are viable career options that make tennis your life if you really want that. You could coach (whether coaching a competitive player or team, or giving lessons at a clubhouse), you could be a tennis writer, you could work adjacent to tennis like designing or selling equipment, etc.

Tangentially, I’ll add that trying and failing to become a pro gamer is very different than failing to become a streamer. At least if you’re playing competitively, you have to move beyond shit talking your opponent. There’s a lot of coordination and communication required if you’re playing a team game. Any game requires a ton of dedication and focus, and a level of creativity within the confines of the game, all of which are valuable and transferable skills. Sitting and playing games by yourself while waiting and hoping someone stops by to watch you doesn’t teach you much.

Sure, but it doesn't seem worth it to give up your childhood and early adulthood if it turns out you couldn't cut it and have to become a tennis coach instead

Seems like this could apply to startup founders as well.

Startups are much more team work as compared to success in sports. And success of many startups can be attributed to being in the right circles rather than founder's skill/grit. The modern day founder hero worship is exaggerated imo.

It seems like you’re downplaying the importance of teamwork in sports. There are very few who succeed in sports who aren’t team players. Most of them fizzle out before we ever hear about them.

Otherwise, I agree.

You can always just get a job later in that case.

This is true. Founding a startup probably makes one more employable for more jobs than training for tennis every day.

Of course it makes you more employable. If you put in some real effort towards running a business, you have to gain some amount of business knowledge. People who understand business implications of technical decisions are usually pretty well-paid.

Totally. Deep inside the capitalist machinery, what really propels it forwards is the irrational human need to do something really crazy. If only rational MBAs ruled the world, nothing new would ever happen.

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