(Untitled)

[arkineux]

Has anyone ever succeeded at anything specifically because they thought it would be easy?

Comments

[shatterwake]

never, but I'm a pessimist - I always expect things to be difficult.

[karrde712]

This is very easy as long as you have an overinflated sense of your abilities.

[arkineux]

What, then, does it mean to succeed?

[karrde712]

Well, in this case, "success" would be defined as meeting your expectations.

I think I understand the question you're asking, though. You're fishing for "Are you more likely to succeed at a task because you go into it expecting it to be difficult than you are if you go into the same task expecting it to be easy?"

I think the answer will depend on the individual in question. Some people give up more readily when they expect something to be easy and it turns out to be more difficult, but other people will be inclined to view it as a surprise challenge and revise their initial assessment of the difficulty partway through.

[kreinm2]

As in, "this is proven and trivial, so this must work", or as in "ah this can't be that difficult?"

[dulcinbradbury]

I've read about a study that showed that people are more likely to succeed at things they believe are difficult. They're less likely to quit when they run into problems.

[mrdzone]

I have decided to embark on a task because I thought it would be easy and decided to forgo a similar task because I thought it would be hard.

I don't know if I succeeded simply because I thought it was easy. Truth be told I'm not sure what you're trying to get at. You're usually not one to beat around the bush with a semantic question like this. That is my MO.