Glance at your life. At your health, your race, your wealth. Were you born with immense privilege into a system that favors you for irrational reasons? No? Well, even if you can tell a story of disadvantage, do the opposite.
Assume you have been, and will continue to be, supported by a tailwind of good luck.
Consider what has gone unreasonably, almost embarrassingly right in your life. In what ways are you strikingly lucky?
Of the heaping billions who have ever lived, few could read, most lived in extreme poverty. Even today, about half live under authoritarian regimes or flawed democracies. But forget numbers. Sit with reality a moment. You have the time, resources, and freedom to read this. Many do not. Most people have never been so obscenely fortunate as you.
You likely have other advantages, too. Maybe you can afford fresh, nutritious food. Maybe you have 20 minutes to blissfully melt into a couch. Maybe you’re physically able to exercise. These aren’t universals human rights, and many don’t have them.
If you have a chance to invest in the well-being of yourself or others, it’s likely because you have some advantage (physical, mental, financial, or otherwise) that affords you the freedom to make that investment.
We’re often taught that success is a product of hard work, clear intent, and consistent effort. But fewer people acknowledge that much of it is also driven by unearned privilege and good ol’ luck.
Base your self-esteem on your effort and accomplishments, never on a perceived sense of entitlement. This can help you avoid the victimhood trap, where we blame external circumstances for our failures or lack of privilege.
Regardless of whether it’s true, lean into the idea that you were born on third base — that you deserve nothing yet somehow have so much.
Let modesty is the antithesis of entitlement. Gratitude will follow.
“Sometimes in life the foundation upon which one stands will give a tilt, and everything one has previously believed and held dear will begin sliding about, and suddenly all things will seem strange and new.”
~George Saunders, Liberation Day (Book)