The only way you get anywhere in life is by working hard. Depending on the government, depending on anybody else, is setting yourself up for failure. The two biggest things I always remember are God and family.
There are all kinds of philosophies for succeeding in the modern workplace -- not sweating the small stuff, extreme success, how full is your bucket -- and then there are the ancient principles of Zen Buddhism. Steven Heine is a professor of religious studies and history at Florida International University and a prominent authority on Buddhism. His purpose in writing this book was to show how Zen concepts can be much more useful than anything you picked up reading Dilbert.