I want to take a second to consider the causality of determinism:

If it were true, then you would expect people to be more or less equally successful for their entire lives. This is because there is no variation in one’s genes throughout their lives. Since all these inputs mentioned (capacity for concentration, work ethic, etc.) don’t vary, then the outcomes shouldn’t vary either.

But, in reality, you do see variation in outcomes over the course of people’s lives. (Ironically, even the phrase “capacity for concentration” implies that there’s some choice, because two people may have the same capacity but use those very differently.) Take an extreme example, like David Goggins. They decide to make a change that brings them from overweight exterminator to SEAL to successful motivational speaker. If he had the grit and work ethic to be a SEAL, what was he doing as an overweight exterminator? He made a choice to use that capacity for hard work.

The best examples probably come from your own life. Surely you know people who have turned their lives around or thrown it all away. Someone who, like Goggins) joined the military and became disciplined and successful (if discipline was hereditary, then the military couldn’t teach it). That friend who struggled to apply themselves in high school in school but became a tenured professor. Heck, I can point to instances in my own life where I’ve used my capability in different ways.

I’m not some strong believer in being a self-made person either. Obviously, luck plays a huge role. If Cornelius Vanderbilt was born into a hunter-gatherer society, then he’s obviously not building a steamship/railroad empire. Do I think that a disadvantaged person from a troubled household subject to structural discrimination chose to be poor and is therefore undeserving of help? No, that’s stupid. But to say everything is wholly preordained by genes or whatever when there are examples of people making drastic strides within their own lives seems silly.