I'm not OP, but this is an interesting moment to ask: would you not consider the "I worked harder than others, therefore I'm more successful" sentiment self evident?
In my experience, people in my group whom I'd categorize as "successful" have often been confident in making peace/having passion for the vocation of their choice, and have paid their dues so to speak, in terms of research papers read, hours spent with their instrument, hours of training for sport etc.
> I'm not OP, but this is an interesting moment to ask: would you not consider the "I worked harder than others, therefore I'm more successful" sentiment self evident?
No - I consider the sentiment very unscientific. I suspect that a significant percentage of people who think they put in above average effort fall below the average. That's assuming we can agree on a common definition of "hard work" - is physically toiling, clocking in hours, mental anguish, perseverance or a combination of the above?
Its rather odd that you chose to fight the battle of what is 'scientific' simply based on logical reasoning - which is flawed to begin with. Logical arguments serve no purpose here without practical proof.
> would you not consider the "I worked harder than others, therefore I'm more successful" sentiment self evident?
Not at all.
We can swap anecdotes about successful people all day, but the fact of the matter is that hard work guarantees nothing, and it's not a prerequisite for success.
If you're going to complain about an author making unsubstantiated generalizations, you should probably avoid doing the same.