A powerful mantra to repeat every day
It is very tempting to blame others for a situation that works against us. It takes the weight of responsibility off our shoulders and keeps us from questioning ourselves. Of course, there are things we cannot control about the outcome of an undertaking. We can bemoan the circumstances, but it is better to take full responsibility for a failure. Life is unfair, but you can benefit from unfairness, but you have to find the unfair advantage that you enjoy naturally or circumstantially. Success is a factor of two elements:
success = fair advantage (1) x unfair advantage (2).
The first element is entirely up to you. The second element requires you to approach your strategy in such a way that you benefit from your unfair advantage. In short, you are more in control of your destiny than you think.
Let’s look at the components of each of these categories. The fair advantage is what we all have in common that sets us apart solely on our own merit. It is made up of the following components:
Hard work
Determination
Perseverance
“Being hungry”
Luck (luck increases as we increase serendipity through our actions: meet more people, attend more events, create a podcast, publish in a blog, apply the feedback we receive etc.)
etc.
Conversely, unfair benefits are the things that set us apart and are not based on merit. This is what skews the race for success in some cases (when we are not aware of our unfair advantages and we have taken a field where these unfair advantages cannot be expressed).
Money (financial capital)
Intelligence
Intimate knowledge of an environment
Status (symbolic capital)
Network
Special talent
etc.
Nevertheless, we all have unfair advantages. When they are not obvious, one needs to make a greater effort of introspection and investigation to see their concrete use. Being born to wealthy parents is the most obvious, but it doesn’t leave much room for creativity. The best unfair advantages are related to your personal talents, your natural inclinations. To win the game, we need to play a game that highlights our strengths and avoid games where we have no unfair advantage to bring to the table.
