If you are reading this, there is a good chance that you are, on average, luckier than the majority of people on this planet. This should probably go without saying it. Intellectually we get this concept, but internalizing are two very different things. I have written a lot about the relationship between skill and luck. Allow me rerun this quote from  David Roberts at Vox:

Of course, people aren’t nearly as eager to take credit for their failures and flaws. Psychologists have shown that all humans are subject to “fundamental attribution error.” When we assess others, we tend to attribute successes to circumstance and failures to character — and when we assess our own lives, it is the opposite. Everyone’s relationship with luck is somewhat self-interested and opportunistic.

That is why it is great to hear when a very successful person, in this case Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital Management acknowledge the role of luck in his life and career. In a discussion with Shane Parrish on the Knowledge Project podcast Marks said:

I think I’ve been the luckiest person on the planet. And I think it was to that that people were responding. But I get into arguments with people and a lot of people say, “Oh—!” Well, what started the article is, I read a piece that quoted some Silicon Valley guy who says, “Success is never accidental. You make your own luck.” And I don’t agree. I think luck is a real thing and it’s important and it’s inherently unfair, but that’s life.

Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are two other prominent investors who have publicly acknowledged the role of luck in their success. Acknowledging luck doesn’t make you lesser. On the contrary is demonstrates humility and a view of the world that reaches beyond your own field of vision. If we actively acknowledge the luck in our lives we can be grateful for what we have and appreciate it all the more.

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