A lot of observable phenomena function as positive feedback loops, simply because positive feedback loops are usually needed to generate effect sizes that become "observable" beyond individual variation. It's very likely the being able to delay gratification makes you wealthy, which makes you better able to delay gratification, which makes you wealthier, and so on. And that's why we have discernible social classes, where mobility from one to another becomes very difficult.

Breaking the feedback loop usually involves doing something farsighted, risky, and irrational - for example, risking getting fired from your retail job by studying programming and applying to software engineering jobs in your downtime, or quitting your stable corporate job to found a startup.