>*on becoming rich. So much opportunity is either created or destroyed by external circumstances that we don't perceive, let alone control.*

Holy F!

this is in words the problem that I have had for over a decade as a consultant ;

I was a consultant who was not aware of the leverage against me by consultancies for whom I executed billion $ projects and they just squirted me out after they got their fill.

I cant articulate a clear picture in words at the moment - but your comment snippet really triggered the way my emotions are to those I worked for in the past and how robbed I feel. (I have my own self fulfillment - I am just recognizing how much I was truly being taken advantage of...