Video semi-related: http://www.ted.com/t...rches_happiness.htmlTrue Rhutobello, however with the lack of a list, it still falls into the category of what technology you encounter the most + your ability.
Let's use a basic example. You attend a below subpar seminar on how you can use Linux for businesses. Said person explains how you can save cash plus you meet a stranger who explains to you stuff like how Linux's ability is a good environment to know how to be an admin. An admin in that context = better job opportunity due to knowing how to use Linux.
From this event, you basically flip several scenario dices (ignoring the coin flip on actually being a tech newbie who discovers said seminar)
Each of this dice scenario can easily change your direction.
You mentioned one aspect already. The "ability" scenario: How good am I? How fast can I learn? How easy is it for me to grasp these concepts?
Other scenario includes:
Dedication scenario:
How lazy will I be? How busy will I be on other stuff? How dedicated will I be? How motivated will I be?
Environmental scenario:
How supportive will people around me be? How much access do I have to a computer? How much free time do I have?
Opportunity scenario:
How well do I communicate with people so that I can convey my message to them? How well can I be specific in what I need help for? How much instructions do I have gathered? How many person do I know which can offset the price of something?
Improvement scenario:
How newb-friendly has the technology evolve to? How many free quality guides are there already? How many ways are there to find free quality guides?
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There are many more scenario available but each of these can easily put a filter on "ability" and vice versa.
In this case, ability can be sliced and diced into 3 important halves because of the other criterias.
Determination will help improve your ability but it can also slice your time to find better ways to learn the item or even miss out new developments that might leave you behind because you're too busy being a specialist to be updated with the generalist picture. (Remember even if the newbie was determined, the newbie is still a newbie as opposed to one who has already other specialization skills and abilities that they nearly need to look sideways to find out about the news and act on switching things) Right there ability needs to be sliced into: determination+something else or determination+little else.
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Then add the other two more variables: Opportunity begs the question that what you already want is equivalent to what you can do (ability-wise) It also begs the question that what you lack in ability you are motivated enough to adapt into. (hence also related to ability despite directly separate from talent)
Environmental scenario further slices up ability. After all, as you said a program can only do so based largely on your ability.
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..but the best ability often loses to the best environment. Otherwise there will be little need both for free tutorials and great teachers. The greatest artist can die not having their art appreciated. Worse, a person of great ability can be traumatize in their childhood when something they are particularly good at is made fun of by a person of higher authority or of elder age.
Finally the opportunity scenario is particularly interesting. It's interesting because like all of these scenarios, it can be so confusing to trap them and create the perfect model for a general people. Hell, many might even paralyze themselves by analyzing all these variables.
Yet opportunity is so much more open to this problem than all of the other scenarios combined. It's so based on luck that you can pretty much raise your hand and simply say: it IS luck.
...yet despite being the most ambiguous scenario, it is also the best at destroying the ability scenario.
Why?!Because how good a person is at being able to reduce the necessity for the luck scenario to be good = how much better he can be at applying his ability.
Think about it. If you are able to time it so you grew up with the internet available for anyone who has an ISP nearby. The need for your charismatic ability to convince someone to give you access to the internet is nearly eradicated.
Add having an opportunity where the internet is mainstream and unlimited connection is near-available and cheap...the need for your money-making ability prior to taking advantage of tools that require the internet is unanimously halved!
Add more user-friendly Linux distroes. Another drop in your ability requirment.
Add the what-if of your ultimate ability being in creating art in 3d and then discovering Blender through Linux. BAM!
All these near instantaneous just because you scored higher on your opportunity scenario than on your general ability scenario.
That is why I think this list still has some value.
Sure, to those who already gutted it out, it seems that they are trivial.
But to future generations and people with less opportunity, even an outdated table is like a trail of clues on increasing the opportunity scenario and reducing all the other scenarios and thus allowing the ability scenario to flourish even if you're not highly talented. (After all, what do buyers of indy games care if you are no Square Enix when your game satisfies them enough to vote with their cash for you? To your deviantart followers, why do they care if you don't immediately start out as an art god? To linux newbies, why would they mind if you're not Linus Torvalds lvl. 9000+ when you're providing them with a distro that comes pre-packaged with enough improvements to make it user friendly and promoting a guide that is vastly superior to the other guides they have read/seen before.)
