Ask HN: Cold approach your way through a career (and still hitting major goals)?

This is something that I have just thought about today. Is it probable, or even possible, to get to a point you want to be in your career in places and positions that normally take people years of networking and building good relationships, and replicate the same goals just by entering a new town, a new job, a new company, as a total stranger?

Has anyone here successfully done that going with a cold approach 100% or close? Get to your career goals (or even life goals) without a reliance of a network to carry you. It's just a thought I had about what is possible with social constraints.