The Lottery Of Starting Position

You entered the game before you ever made a decision.

You did not choose your country, your historical period, your parents, your childhood environment, your initial resources, or many of the biological traits with which you began life. Yet people often evaluate outcomes as though everyone received the same starting position and only differed in how intelligently they played.

That assumption is convenient. It is also false.

Two people can make equally disciplined decisions and receive radically different outcomes because the conditions surrounding those decisions are different. One may have access to stable institutions, education, capital, useful networks, and social safety, while another spends years overcoming obstacles the first person never had to notice.

This does not make effort meaningless. It makes judgment more precise.

Before judging how well someone played the game, examine the position they were given.

THE FIRST ADVANTAGE IS THE ONE YOU NEVER CHOSE.