The Paradox of Success

What if I tell, "Getting placed in Google India, is an outcome of your luck, and not hard work?"

This statement is not to debate over your opinion, but to bring up what is called “an egocentric bias.”

In simple words it means, we believe what we want to…

Most people actually think they do most of the work in a group!

When asked 2 cooks about the part of a very tasty & delicious food they made together, the combined total always gets above 100% !

Now, you might think, people want to look more helpful and deserving than they really are..

But…

Thats not it actually

When same cooks are asked over the mess they created, the sum again adds up above 100%

Umm… weird, right?

Basically, people think they do most of the work, but also think they cause more of the problem!

Umm, feels a bit abrupt, isn't it?

As in why everyone will brag about themselves...

So, I went to cross check it out myself.

The Case of A Case Study

I recently asked students of my college about their contribution in the case studies they have done.

Yes, you are thinking right, it wouldn't be equal for every other person in a team, so the results should vary, right?

But what if the results go far beyond your assumption?

1. With an average team size of 3, 85% of the students believed that they contributed more than half of the work
2. While 20% believe that they contribute to more than 3/4ths of it!

So why is this?

Well, what I think is… you experience and remember vividly ALL of what you do…

but…

not of all someone else does

Naturally, not only you overestimate your own contributions, but also underestimate others’

And this bias of being better undermines the role of all other things on our lives!

Lets take the best example,…

LUCK!

"Its all hard work what pays off" - someone said

So, let’s revisit a memory, a sad one…

Remember Manchester, Ind vs NZ, World Cup 2019 semi final, Dhoni hits and is running for the 2nd run while Guptill (NZ) picks up the ball, throws it towards the wicket and….

…. he misses

Dhoni then goes on taking India into the finals

…

Well we all hope this would have happened, right?

This is where LUCK stands!…

In the minute of the possibilities, we leave unseen!

When competition is fierce, being talented and hard-working is important, but not enough to guarantee success.

You also need a stroke of luck!

Luck: A Distorted Reality

Largely, I think we're unaware of our good luck because, by definition, it's not something we did.

But…

Here is the crazy thing…

The more you overlook luck as a part of your journey….

The more you are in this hard work-only delusion…

...the better your probability of success becomes!

And there is another side to it: This delusion helps us accept the social inequality!

“Not possible” - you might think

Ok, let's try something. Think of a good thing happened to you recently.

Now think of your own personal qualities or actions which made that happen.

Don’t just read, think over all of your possible qualities!

Done?

Since you obeyed what I just said, I’ll give you 100 rupees as a gift.

But, you have an option to donate some or a part of that money.

Think of how much you’ll donate

Think….

This same experiment was done at the University of Catania, Italy, where 2 groups were made

Group 1: Thought of external factors beyond their control that led to the event

Group 2: Thought of own personal qualities/actions that made it happen solely

Results established Group 2 donated 25% lesser on an average…

Just ponder upon what all this means for people in our society, specifically for people in positions of power like business leaders and politicians.

Now, undoubtedly many of them are talented and hard-working…

(You might not believe the statement, but yes, they are indeed!)

But... they have also been luckier than most, and like most of us, they don't realize just how lucky they are!

And this gives them a distorted view of reality.

Placed at Google: Breaking the Loop

Successful people live around what we can call a survivor bias!

Suppose you get placed in Google, on Day 1 during your college placements.

Indeed, you have worked hard and now succeeded.

So, to you the world is fair.

but what you don't have is the experience of all the people who have worked hard and failed, the latent factors pushing you through, the support from your peers, along with all others who fumbled in their interviews.

So what do you now deduce of your unsorted peers, or the ones who got placed very late?

Well, the natural conclusion is that they must have been little lazy or less hard-working, or just a little less talented. etc etc

And this perspective might make you less inclined to be generous — to give back.

This ultimately creates the vicious loop

• Hard work + peer support + others fumbling in interview + other external hidden factors ? You succeed
• You suggest to your junior → Follow XYZ roadmap, do hard work solely and you’ll get placed (His placement probability ultimately becomes much lower than yours)

So how do you break the loop?

Suppose you go on becoming the HR Manager, Google India

You have 1 opening in Google and get applications from 2 candidates to be a part of your team.

Everything in their CV is the same except for last para.

1: Last para lists that the applicant personally takes credit of everything they had achieved through their rigorous hard work

2: Lists the LUCK (basically, all the external supports, not under his influence) that had contributed to his present self; in addition to the hard work

Whom would you hire?

Think...

You have the answer now.

So, the best advice is kinda paradoxical —

Believing something that happened, which was never there at the first place...

Basically,

First, you must believe that you are in complete control of your destiny, and that your success comes down only to your own talent and hard work.

But second, you've got to know that's not true for you or anyone else.

So, just remember:

If you achieve success, remember that many external factors (including Luck) played a significant role and gave you good fortune,

And you should do what you can to increase the LUCK of others.