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Here's How You Can Be A Winner

Writer's picture: Adete DahiyaAdete Dahiya

I want you to be honest with yourself and think about it.

 

Have you ever looked at someone else's success and wondered, "Why them and not me?"

 

Because if you have, then this newsletter is for YOU. 🫵


It's easy to feel like some people are just born lucky. They have everything spoon-fed. Money, career, lifestyle. You name it and they have it.

But there's more to the story!

 

And, this newsletter is exactly about that. This newsletter dives into the two big factors that affect how well we do in life:

 

➡️ The Luck Factor

 

Here is something I want you to do.

 

Close your eyes and imagine being born and getting to design your entire life! Where you live, your health, even your natural talents; literally everything. Sounds amazing. Isn’t it?

 

But as billionaire investor Warren Buffett points out, that's not how it works. You absolutely don’t have any control over whether you’re going to be born rich or poor, male or female, infirm or able-bodied, in India or Afghanistan.

All you know is that you get to take one ball out of a barrel with 8.1 billion balls in it. But, here is the interesting part: All the 8.1 billion balls come with their unique journey which differ from the rest in some shape or form. 🛣️

 

Thus, if we look at the narrative from this angle - we are all born lucky because no one can change our path and journey; no matter how hard they try.

 

We're all just picking a ball out of a giant bin with 8.1 billion possibilities, and some balls give you a way better starting point than others. That's luck or in scientific terms psychologists refer to this concept as the Ovarian Lottery.


➡️ The Hard Work Factor

 

Okay, so we can't change where we start, but can we totally control how much effort we put in? Yes and to understand the how behind this “YES”, let’s look at this graph:

Similar to these slopes on this graph – some people start higher due to luck, but we can all make our line go up over time by working hard and making smart choices.

 

So, what is the winning formula? 🤔

 

The Winning Formula: Luck + Hard Work

 

Think of it like this: being born with a natural musical ability is lucky, but without practice, you'll never play a great tune. That is exactly how Lata Mangeshkar became who she is. An evergreen legend.

 

Then, how to incorporate the same in your life? Here's how to make the most of both:

 

➡️ Keep Taking Chances: The concept is very simple. The more you put yourself out there and try new things, the more opportunities you have for good luck to find you. In fact, Stanley Milgram, famous for his "small world experiment" has a research on the same. In it, he showed the power of weak ties, strong ties and absent ties which basically means the more people you connect with, the more opportunities you might encounter.

➡️ Find your unfair advantage: We all have unfair advantages. The difference lies in how you are leveraging it. Confused?

 

Let me explain with an example.

 

Oprah Winfrey grew up in poverty and a broken family. But her public speaking was on point. She grabbed people’s attention wherever she went. So, her grandmother used this unfair advantage of her and taught her how to leverage it by taking her to speak at churches. By the time she was a teen, Oprah had thousands of hours of public speaking experience. And those hours ultimately gave her the confidence to become who she is today.

 

Therefore, here is something you can do to figure out what’s your unfair advantage. Find out what specific set of circumstances + abilities put you ahead of the competition in the field where you want to grow. It can be communication, negotiation, numbers - literally anything. Write all of your advantages down so that you are ready whenever the next opportunity comes.

 

➡️ Be Prepared: Your opportunity is ready, you know your unfair advantages and when it knocks, be ready to answer! Just like Dr. Tu Youyou, who discovered a life-saving malaria treatment.

 

Despite not having a postgraduate degree or working in a fancy lab, her years of research and meticulous note-taking (a key element of being prepared) allowed her to capitalize on a lucky discovery (the ancient text mentioning the right extraction method).

 

 

So, the next time you see someone succeeding in life, remember – there's probably a lot of hard work behind that success story too. It’s not a one day stunt.

 

And the best part is…

 

You can write your own success story by putting in the effort and making the most of the opportunities that come your way.

 

So, how do you perceive the luck- hard work equation? REPLY and let me know.

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