comment: >
  
  Sometimes before a person can pull themselves up by thier bootstraps, they need help getting the boots....
context: I agree that people should be in a mindset to be persistent, but I think “God helps those who help themselves” or “fortune favors the bold” may be more applicable. 
  Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is literally impossible, and that phrase used to mean that very thing. From Wikipedia (I know, I know):
  In original use, often used to refer to pulling oneself over a fence, and implying that someone is attempting or has claimed some ludicrously far-fetched or impossible task. >
  
  This is going make people pop a forehead vein. >
  
  Agreed. It's a stupid saying to begin with seeing as the original context was talking about literally trying to lift yourself by pulling your bootstraps is impossible, but the meaning behind the phrase can be good advice. The world sucks a lot and it's sadly common to find yourself in tough situations, but no matter how much help you can get, self discipline and working hard can go a long way. >
  
  It's just that it's really pointless 'advice'. It's like telling a heroin addict to 'just not use heroin anymore', or a fat person to 'just lose some weight'. Like, no shit sherlock, they didn't need you to tell them that. If they knew how, they would have already done it. Not to mention it's usually said by priviledged people who have no idea what these struggles are like. >
  
  On its own, it is useless. “Hard work” doesn’t get you anywhere without knowing where to work/what to work on. >
  
  Working hard and persisting aren't the only things we need to do in order to improve our circumstances.  
  We also need to reach out for help and build strong support systems with other people. 
  Basically we can't pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We need to lift eachother up together instead. >
  
  "Don't tell people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps! Just tell them to work hard. I'm sure that thought has never occurred to them." >
  
  Many if not most work hard. They just work hard at the wrong things. Or they work hard now but didn’t when they were 15-23 years old. Working hard to learn in-demand skills is critical when you are at the age where you actually have the opportunity. >
  
  This is way more true than a lot of people realize. Unfortunately, it usually becomes harder as you get older to learn those thing. Especially if you have children >
  
  First off, no, it won't necessarily result in a more secure and stable life. It might raise your chances, but it's no guarantee. And second, if it's not helping people stuck in tough situations then stop saying it to people stuck in tough situations. People aren't disagreeing with the idea that you should work hard, they're disagreeing with blaming people for their own poverty when they already work hard. >
  
  We're not rolling our eyes at the idea of persistence or hard work.
  We're rolling our eyes at the fact that you think this is a novel or brilliant idea, at least enough to bother sharing.
  It communicates a level of out-of-touch self-aggrandizement that is laughable. >
  
  In my experience hard work means being used by people. Sure that you can do the job. But don't go out of your way for your employer. Don't give up free time. And if they ask you for a favor you get something in return. There is exceptions to this however. But for the most part put yourself first. >
  
  The thing is what is this advice supposed to do?
  You really think "LOL well just try" is somehow too hard for people to grasp and they need you to come along with your obvious wisdom or it would just never occur to them?
  I know people like to think that the person sitting there with their hand on the hot stove, waiting for someone to come along and go "Just take your hand off the stove" is everyone with any problem ever, but most people aren't idiots and if they are asking they have already tried the obvious shit and it didn't work.
  Most people by the time they are asking you for advice have already tried "just taking their hand off the hot stove."  Give them the courtesy of assuming they are incompetent dullards.
  It's the worst kind of advice.  Useless to 99% of people and 1% of people who need are too stupid to listen.  It exists just for pompous, talking down pretending to be advice. >
  
  
  You really think "LOL well just try" is somehow too hard for people to grasp and they need you to come along with your obvious wisdom or it would just never occur to them?
  
  Actually, yeah.  Yeah I do think this.
  I've worked with and met many people in my day and I think this because so many people prove it to be true over and over. >
  
  I absolutely agree! >
  
  We're rolling our eyes because whoever is suggesting is implying we are all lazy bums waiting  for a handout. Yeah,  it's a good philosophy that most us are already trying our best to do. 
  Of course there are exceptions, and sometimes some tough love is needed to give  someone a kick in the butt, but that needs to come from friends and family,  not strangers on the internet. A whole internet diatribe about "people need to...." like that's the only problem out there is just lazy thinking. >
  
  Nah man, I was able to get where I am not because I "pulled myself up by my bootstraps," but because I was able to use a safety net provided by the federal government that cost me nothing out of my own paycheck.
  The same goes with every single billionaire ever. They have had a safety net as well, just in the form of financial help from family.
  While you still need some effort on your part, the majority of your success will come from help from others. This idea that you can make it in the world entirely by your own power is pure myth. >
  
  You can't tell that to most people.   They just want to bitch and moan about things while refusing to take any personal responsibility. >
  
  "It's a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself up by his own bootstraps." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. >
  
  I think social media has made self importance reach an all time high, as well feeling in control over one’s life at an all time low. The most popular image on social media is the influencer who has everything with no work (but we all know it’s a facade). So the mindset is you have it, or you don’t, and if you don’t, “oh woah is me, look at this horrible position everyone but me put me in.” People just have this helpless attitude and refuse to grind it out to improve their lives, just wallow around in self pity till they die. >
  
  The system we live in was designed to keep you down at a certain point no matter how positive you are. Whatever adversity you think you've overcome is probably childs play compared to people with actual problems.