If you become successful, whether in business or athletics or somewhere else, you undoubtedly had some luck along the way, which is easy to forget about.
Bill Gates and Kent Evans are great examples of that. Kent Evans? When he was 17, he was best friends with Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, but tragically died in a mountain climbing accident.
As shared in the book “The Psychology of Money“, Gates struck it rich with 1-in-a-million shot with Microsoft, while Kent faced a 1-in-a-million chance the other way. From the book:
Bill Gates experienced one in a million luck by ending up at Lakeside. Kent Evans experienced one in a million risk by never getting to finish what he and Gates set out to achieve. The same force, the same magnitude, working in opposite directions.
Gates is a brilliant guy that worked hard and succeeded, but it took a lot of chance to get there. When people reach the top of their profession and fail to see the part that chance took in getting them there, things can go a bit sideways. Also from the book:
Bill Gates once said, “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
We see this a lot in big companies where the founder is sure that he or she can’t lose. They can.
You can learn a lot from the success that you worked for, but never use that as an excuse to rest on your laurels.
