Being attractive is like having good connections; conceptually it makes it easier to get your foot in the door with a lot of situations (attention from your preferred gender, getting jobs, getting the benefit of the doubt, etc...). From there you still need to have desirable traits to get further ahead but having that leg up definitely impacts your life. I discovered this when I lost over 100lbs and got super fit while going to college. Strangers started smiling at me more, women approached me more, women who I approached became far friendlier and less defensive, relationships at work became easier with both colleagues and customers, stuff like that.