Those of us too apathetic or unmotivated will struggle to succeed. Even accounting for survivorship bias, the better-paid and flourishing people almost always demonstrate drive and ambition. Conscientious correlates unsettling strongly with income.

However, we look at some in the upper echelon, namely the university professors, and see a lot of time-wasting combined with minimal societally beneficial output. With two or three lectures a week, why are they doing so little? Are they the lazy people who succeeded despite their flaws?

The answer lay in the system. An average person, told to do meaningful research with a review in seven years, would either take the pay and wait for it to blow up after a good run or quit entirely. With such an appalling lack of direction or instruction, it’s a miracle that professors do anything.