Why I Am a Loser

Why am I a loser? I ask myself this question often. Other people ask it as well. How come a smart guy like you isn't rich?

I am a nobody. I am nothing. It isn't because I am stupid or lazy or have substance abuse problems or a gambling addiction. I wasn't born with cerebral palsy or Lou Gehrig's disease. The truth is that there are people with those problems who are very successful.

It doesn't take much to realize that there is a huge disconnect between people's virtues and talents and their income. I can tell you for a fact that I am far easier to work with than Terrell Owens, but he's the one with the million dollar paycheck.

Aside from winning the lottery or being born rich or getting away with a lucrative crime, the reason successful people are successful is because a lot of people were willing to pay money for what they had to offer. In the case of a surgeon, it would be his skills on the operating table. In the case of Paris Hilton, I couldn't tell you. Even if she never inherits a dime from her family, Paris has made her own money despite the fact that she can't act, sing, dance, or hide her big feet, flat ass, flat chest, and scrunched up eyes.

There is no accounting for taste. I can't tell you why the world fell in love with Kurt Cobain who was a high school dropout, a sorry singer, and a sorry guitarist who played junk shop instruments and loved to do heroin. Yet, he was a success while I am still a pathetic loser.

We want to believe that if you work hard and do the right things that success will follow. This is not necessarily the case. I have found that success in the corporate world is based less on merit than on the simple fact that someone above you happened to like you a whole lot. It is not what you know but who you know.

I am a loser because people don't want what I have to offer, and I don't exactly know what it is that they want. When J.K. Rowling was on welfare and writing that first Harry Potter book, she really had no clue it would do what it did. In fact, the rest of the world is as surprised as she is. She was a hopeless loser one day and a stunning success the next. How does that happen? In the meantime, this blog generates less than 50 hits per week.

I am a decent writer, and people ask me why I don't do more with more stuff. Well, you're reading this shit. You tell me. People that read this blog say I must be a complete loser because I have so much time to spend on this project which is going nowhere. So, am I failure because I don't write or because I write too much? Does Stephen King write too much? Or was he writing too much when he was living in a trailer with his family and working as a teacher and in a laundromat?

The fact is that we are all standing at the roullette table of life and taking a gamble. The choices we make are either worth something or worth nothing. For me, all my choices have come up as nothing. This is why I am a complete loser. I can kick myself for all the wrong choices I made in life, but it is like regretting betting on red when you should have bet on black.

The reality is that most success and failure is undeserved. If you don't believe this, look no further than our current President. The difference between Democrats and Republicans is that Democrats tend to be talented but undeserving losers who want equality while Republicans are untalented undeserving winners who want to keep things just the way they are.

The path to success is easy. Have something people want and will pay for. Aside from money, I can't tell what people will want. Nobody really knows though the lucky ones will tell you they know. But even today's winners can become tomorrow's losers. This is how we get the one hit wonder, the eight track cassette, or even, IBM. Success is rare and ephemeral.

I find the best strategy is one of diversification. Spread your bets. Know a lot of different things. Talk to a lot of people. Apply everywhere. You never know what may turn up.

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