The following article, Success, Failure, and Settling: Life’s Rigged Lottery, was first published on The Black Sphere.
Cut to the Chase
I’m not sure why my mind defaults to cutting to the chase. Maybe it’s my background as a management consultant, where I’ve heard more excuses for failure than a politician at a budget hearing. Or it could be all my degrees in logic. Whatever the cause, I don’t like to dilly-dally on finding solutions.
Here’s an example of cutting to the chase: the trans-sexual community has nothing on conservative men—we, too, were all once trapped in a female’s body. This is the proper way to silence the Alphabet community on this notion, as we scratch that argument off the grievance list.
Of course, it’s a tongue-in-cheek joke meant to highlight a bigger point: we all have our issues. But issues don’t matter as much as how we deal with them. In life, you get three choices: succeed, fail, or settle.
Success: The Rarely Complained-About Problem
Success is the toughest road, yet oddly enough, nobody complains about having it—except Leftists. If a Leftist won the lottery, he’d demand reparations from the 49 other states he didn’t live in.
Speaking of the lottery, a guy hit the $1.765 billion Powerball and took home $774.1 million. Guess who really hit the jackpot? The government, of course. Government doesn’t play the lottery—it’s a guaranteed winner, every time.
The lottery provides a perfect metaphor for government: the people put in all the money, and Uncle Sam shows up like the cousin you didn’t know you had, grabbing the biggest slice of the pie. Elon Musk could probably run the lottery for 10% of the take and still send you a Tesla as a thank-you card. A few stats:
The revenue for the 45 states that participate in government-operated lotteries has grown by over 80 percent since 2010.
(…)
From that humble rebirth, however, state lotteries have snowballed into a massive government business. In 2022, the total revenue from the 45 states that participate in government-operated lotteries, plus the District of Columbia, clocked in at nearly $108 billion (a rather staggering 83 percent increase from 2010 figures). States with the highest total lottery revenue include New York, Florida, Texas, and California, which each took in north of $8 billion that year. For at least 10 states, lottery games regularly generate more total revenue than corporate income taxes.
Essentially the lottery is a way to tax you that gives you a one-in-a-trillion chance to get your money back. Think of it as FUN taxation. Where do you think this money really goes? To “education”? Another story for another day.
Failure: The Unexpected Teacher
Now, let’s talk failure. It’s where most of us live, and oddly enough, it’s where we learn the most. My grandfather used to say, “Discipline your disappointment; because it going to keep on happening—until it doesn’t.” Translation: embrace failure. You’ll face plenty of it before you taste success.
Some of my best lessons came while failing. I’ve
failed in business, relationships, and even hobbies. You’re looking at a guy who plays piano so badly that my piano probably thinks I’m trolling it. But I settled for being terrible at piano because I don’t need to be Van Cliburn—I’m too busy succeeding elsewhere.
Failure builds character. When I wrote that, I didn’t expect to find a lot on it. But I’m not the only one who believes it. So if you don’t embrace failure, you’ll never get to the next level. People stuck in failure are the ones who missed the memo: it’s not a final destination—it’s just a layover.
Settling: The Comfortable Compromise
And now, settling. We all do it in some areas. Because we can’t be great or even good at most things. But there’s a difference between settling smartly and selling out.
Thoreau said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation“. His comment was an observation that most people live an empty life caused by unfulfilling work, lack of leisure time and misplaced values; money, possessions and accolades. That’s true, but that desperation is generally a choice.
Did you settle for a job you hate because it pays the bills? Or did you take the leap and find out what you’re made of? Did you marry someone who makes you better, or did you settle for someone who just makes you dinner?
But settling isn’t always bad; sometimes it’s strategic. But if you’re in a rut, ask yourself: are you settling because it’s easy, or because it’s right?
The Revolution of Not Settling
This year, many of us made a choice not to settle. Politically, we dumped the high-maintenance “gold-digger” government. It’s time to find a fiscally responsible “around-the-way girl”— who doesn’t want a new butt, new boobs, and lips that look like she’s a cartoon character in The Simpsons.
We’ve had enough of a government that treats our wallets like a piggy bank for its Botox fund. We want something real, something sustainable. And the good news is: the revolution has already begun.
Circling back on success.
Success only comes with massive failure. Elon Musk almost went broke twice. Donald Trump lost in a sham election, only to win “bigly” in 2024. What’s your big success built on failure?
Remember your three choices: succeed, fail, or settle. Just make sure the choice is yours—not someone else’s.
Democrats have one thing they do better than anybody: they sell total failure as success.
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