I believe a lot can be said of a person's likelihood to succeed by watching them play Scrabble. If the person, like me, is always waiting for the perfect opportunity to use their Zs, Qs and Js and if they pass up on opportunities to place them on the board for moderate points in the hope that a currently missing tile may arrive and give them a triple letter triple word score taking them way beyond the others, then that person may like major steps in their career. They are likely to either make spectacular successes in their life (of which there is a slim chance) or they are likely to end up losers with points being deducted for missed opportunities which have turned into adversities instead.
On the other hand, if the person is willing to make the most of the current situation, living in the present, not saving up their Zs and Qs, but instead using them to inch their score up every time, then they might only be moderately successful, but successful nevertheless. Even if they fall back, they won't be far behind other moderately successful people.
Idealists turn out to be either mega successes or failures. They either make it big or don't make it at all. I'm not saying that the world is no place for idealists. I'm only saying that idealists stake out too much; their gamble is too big and their risks are too great. Chance could play a major part in their lives.
Was it not Marx who said "If you are not an idealist by age 20 you have no heart; if you are still an idealist by age 40, then you have no brain."