<p>^It is part of being “genius” to be at the right time/place. It is part of being 'genius", for example, to drop out of college to get to the right time/place or seek collaboration form “right” people who would assist you to be at the right time/place…etc.
However, I disagree that genius would have everything fall onto their laps for whatever. Nope, most of them work hours and hours that we, oridinary nobodies, just do not see/consider. We think of them as brilliant, while “brillince” will be nowhere at all without hard work acquiring certain skills or developing something new. The point is though, that sometime they do not need to push themselves, but opposite, they cannot get away from working hard on whatever their call. Another point is that some of these geniuses were pushed extremely hard by their very driven parents in very early ages of their lives to work so hard and focus so narrow at whatever that this whatever became integral part of their identity to the point that they could not stop doing it.
Frnakly, I do not see how genius could become one without working extremely hard. While very hard working person can achieve a lot without brilliant mind. Lots of discoveries happened because of diligent and persistant work, not because person was brilliant.</p>