Welcome to the blog post #57! Click here to read more from previous posts.
Have you ever scrolled through social media, feeling like everyone else is living extraordinary lives?
The young entrepreneur who dropped out of college to build a billion-dollar app. The musician who went viral on TikTok and became a global sensation. These narratives are inspiring, but can also leave us feeling like our own journeys are somehow trivial.
Is the key to success truly just relentless effort? Or are there unseen forces at play, pushing them towards extraordinary achievements?
I used to believe the former. Hard work, grit, and determination felt like the universal recipe for success.
Absolutely, it’s still true!
But “The Unfair Advantage” by Hasan Kubba & Ash Ali that I read in the recent holiday has expanded my perspectives. It introduced the concept of "unfair advantages" – those hidden factors that can significantly influence someone's trajectory, beyond just their visible talents and efforts.
Think about Mark Zuckerberg, the Harvard dropout who co-founded Facebook. While his intelligence and work ethic are undeniable, what about his privileged upbringing, surrounded by technology and connections most teenagers could only dream of?
Or consider Serena Williams, raised by a tennis-coaching father who instilled discipline and provided her early training opportunities that most aspiring athletes wouldn't have.
But talking about "unfair advantages" is not to diminish the dedication of successful individuals, but rather understanding the complex interplay of factors that shape their journeys.
It's also about recognizing that our own stories are unique, shaped by our own sets of advantages and challenges.
By understanding these "unfair advantages," we can discover our own hidden strengths, find opportunities we might have overlooked, and build a path to success.
Join me on this journey of exploration. We'll explore the world of "unfair advantages," see how they impact our lives, and equip ourselves to navigate the complex landscape of success.
Unfair Advantages
Unfair advantages are unique benefits that give someone an edge over others. They can be external circumstances or internal strengths, creating an uneven playing field in various areas.
Types of unfair advantages include:
External advantages
Location: Being in a geographical area with specific resources or opportunities. Imagine the difference in "unfair advantages" for someone born in Silicon Valley, brimming with tech resources and connections, compared to someone growing up in a remote African village.
Timing: Entering a market at the right time to capitalize on a trend. Think of companies like Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Netflix, all founded and flourishing during the prime time of the internet boom. Now generative AI is the latest trend, with companies scrambling to cash in.
Access to resources: Having financial backing, strong connections with influential individuals or organizations. Consider the advantages of being born into an elite family, studying at prestigious schools, befriending powerful figures, or working in renowned organizations. These factors contribute significantly to "unfair advantages" that propel you ahead of others.
Unexpected events: Luck or serendipity can sometimes play a role in creating an advantage. While the COVID-19 pandemic was detrimental to many businesses, it triggered booms in others focused on facilitating work, exercise, and entertainment at home, like Zoom, ServiceNow, Peleton, and Netflix.
Internal advantages
Skills: Possessing exceptional talent, expertise, or experience in a particular domain. Sports legends provide prime examples. Think of Cristiano Ronaldo in football or Michael Jordan in basketball. While hard work and perseverance are undeniable factors, their gifted talents undoubtedly played a crucial role in their successes.
Personality traits: Having natural strengths like charisma or communication. Ponder why some individuals feel instantly comfortable having interesting conversations, while others effortlessly command attention in public.
Experiences: Gaining unique knowledge or insights from specific life experiences. Consider individuals who faced hardship in their childhood, often developing strong motivation to overcome challenges and build resilience. My aunt's family serves as an example. Immigrating to America in the early 1990s with no relatives, limited funds, and four young children, their lives were incredibly difficult. Yet, this hardship fueled a determination in their four children to study hard and become doctors at Stanford.
In their book, Hasan Kubba & Ash Ali condense these "unfair advantages" into the MILES framework:
Money: Financial resources or funding you can raise from family or friends.
Intelligence and Insight: Not just book smarts but also social and emotional intelligence, coupled with unique insights gained from specific problems, domains, or industries.
Location and Luck: Being at the right place at the right time.
Education and Expertise: Acquired through academic education, practical learning, and work experience. This is why you often see introductions like "Harvard MBA Graduate | Ex-Goldman Sachs," ect.
Status: How people perceive you, your network, and your reputation. Similar to how we unconsciously judge a book by its cover, Kylie Jenner's family status played a significant role in her early success as the youngest self-made billionaire in 2019 at the age of 21. Starring in the Kardashians’ reality shows and leveraging her family's influence granted her millions of social media followers and numerous business opportunities in the cosmetics and entertainment industries. Her family status is an unfair advantage that you and I, or many people in the world, wouldn’t have.
Whether you agree or not, "unfair advantages" exist and vary for everyone. The key lies in discovering and amplifying your own. However, before embarking on that journey, the right mindset is crucial. You've likely heard of the growth mindset, but Hasan Kubba & Ash Ali introduce an even higher level, which is called the reality growth mindset.
Reality Growth Mindset
"A reality-growth mindset is the ability to accept the hard limits of the way things are (like the physical laws of the universe) and also to believe that anything is possible (the metaphysical way of looking at the universe).” - The Unfair Advantage
Let’s take some examples. You can't jump and touch the clouds because gravity pulls you back down. No matter how hard you try, you can't defy this physical law. On the other hand, with a metaphysical view, you may see clouds as wish holders and imagine that the higher you jump into the sky, the closer you can reach your wishes. The sky is unlimited, and this way of looking at the world makes you always feel inspired in your ongoing journey.
Having both viewpoints is crucial. One keeps you grounded, while the other empowers creativity and helps you reach ambitious goals. Finding the right balance can be tricky, as optimism and realism are equally important. This is where understanding and utilizing "unfair advantages" comes in.
By leveraging the MILES framework, you can identify your unique advantages and set realistic yet ambitious goals. For instance, if you're passionate about basketball but stand at 1.6 meters tall, becoming an NBA superstar might be unrealistic. However, excelling as a sports coach or commentator could be a fulfilling career path that aligns with your advantages. Sometimes, accepting limitations opens doors to exploring "unfair advantages" in unexpected areas.
Find Your Unfair Advantages
Not everyone readily recognizes their strengths. I struggled with this myself until I began self-reflection to discover my inner self over the past two years. This journey has unlocked opportunities for building a fulfilling life, and I wish I had started sooner in my 20s.
Here are some tips for your self-exploration journey:
1. Uncover your strengths and passions
Start with introspection.
Take time to reflect on your life experiences, both personal and professional. Consider successes, challenges, and everything in between. Be flexible in designing a self-reflection routine to fit with your schedule.
For me, I journal daily to timely reflect on events happening in my workday, in my family relationship, or just to contemplate what’s happening around me. Then, on a monthly basis, I have a review of six aspects, which I call the golden hexagon. If you haven’t read how to make a life plan with a golden hexagon, check it out here.
By constantly writing down my feelings and thoughts and comparing them with my core values, I become more aware of my strengths and areas for development. I also analyze what brings me joy and what drains my energy.
Ask yourself:
What unique perspectives or experiences do I possess that others might not?
Which activities feel easy for me but challenging for others?
What topics or fields spark my curiosity and bring me fulfillment?
In which activities do I consistently feel energized and engaged?
2. Seek external perspectives
Get feedback from others.
Talk to your trusted friends, family, bosses, colleagues, or mentors. Ask them to share their honest observations about your strengths, unique qualities, and potential advantages.
Questions to consider:
What are the top 3 strengths my closest friends and family consistently mention about me?
How do my mentors or colleagues describe my unique value proposition and contributions?
What natural talents or abilities do people often compliment me on?
What are my biggest strengths, as identified by personal assessments or feedback from others?
3. Analyze your experiences
Go beyond the surface to find your expertise.
The measurement of experience is not in months or years but in the amount of expertise you have accumulated. It’s not about the experiences you’ve had; you need a deeper look into the skills, knowledge, or perspectives you’ve gained from each experience.
Identify your transferrable skills.
Today's work environment demands diverse skills. Having worked in various roles gives you an advantage. Look for skills developed through different experiences that can be applied in other areas of your life or career.
Persuasion is not a skill only for salespeople; it’s for all people to use in all aspects of work and life.
Storytelling is not a skill for marketers; it’s a must-have skill for all people to convey ideas effectively.
Writing is not a skill for content creators; it’s an essential skill of communication for everyone.
These are just a few examples to show that most of the skills you have accumulated from different roles can be transferrable and compounded over time.
Connect the dots.
Explore how your experiences can be interconnected and how the skills and knowledge gained can be applied in different situations.
The story about Macintosh’s font design is an example. Steve Jobs was intrigued by the beauty of hand-drawn letters at a young age, which took him to a calligraphy class. It seems unrelated to his technological breakthroughs with Apple later on. However, thanks to this class, Jobs developed a deep appreciation for the art of lettering, understanding of spacing, balance, and harmony in typography. It resulted in Macintosh's innovative font design, a stark contrast to the standard fonts of that time.
Questions to ask yourself:
What specific skills, knowledge, or insights did I gain from each of my previous jobs, volunteer experiences, or personal challenges?
How have these experiences shaped my problem-solving skills, communication style, or leadership abilities?
In which situations or environments do I consistently perform at my best?
Can I identify any recurring themes or patterns in the types of challenges I excel at overcoming?
Amplify Your Advantages
1. Be curious
Luck plays a significant role in success. Increasing your "surface area" for luck increases your chances of encountering it. You can think that luck is uncontrollable and that you have nothing to do with it. It’s true, but if you combine both the right mindset mentioned above and a good strategy to increase your chance of luck, you can make it.
Paul Graham's “How To Do Great Work” essay offers valuable advice:
“When you read biographies of people who've done great work, it's remarkable how much luck is involved. They discover what to work on as a result of a chance meeting, or by reading a book they happen to pick up. So you need to make yourself a big target for luck, and the way to do that is to be curious. Try lots of things, meet lots of people, read lots of books, ask lots of questions.”
The key is curiosity and a willingness to learn and experiment. Don't expect perfection, but starting your journey brings you closer to your goals.
2. Leverage your network
Map your existing network.
Identify and analyze your existing connections with family, friends, colleagues, mentors, and acquaintances. Who can potentially offer support, guidance, or collaboration opportunities?
Strategic expansion.
Look for opportunities to connect with individuals in your desired field or those who share your interests. Networking can open doors to new collaborations, resources, and knowledge-sharing opportunities. Social media platforms, if used wisely, can offer great opportunities to connect with and learn from many great minds all over the world.
Actively engage.
Foster your existing connections and actively seek new connections that align with your goals and potentially amplify your unfair advantages. Motivational speaker Jim Rohn famously said that we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with. Therefore, be selective and engage with those who can positively influence you.
Questions to consider:
Who in my network possesses complementary skills and strengths that could potentially amplify my own?
Who in my network could offer me valuable insights, guidance, or mentorship related to my goals?
How can I actively engage with and build stronger connections within my existing network?
What types of new connections would be most beneficial in my pursuit of further developing and utilizing my unfair advantages?
3. Explore and utilize resources
Identify what you have.
Consider your access to education, training, technology, or other resources that can give you an edge. As humans, we tend to focus on what we lack rather than appreciating what we do have.
Think about this.
If you are living in a free country, you're fortunate compared to millions in war zones.
If you have a home to return to each day, you’re lucky compared to millions of homeless people.
If you can experience the world through sight, sound, and scent, it is a gift that many disabled people do not have.
It’s to realize that you possess more advantages than you may realize.
Remember to cultivate an abundance mindset and express gratitude for the blessings in your life.
Seek out new resources.
Look for opportunities to further develop your strengths and knowledge through courses, workshops, online resources, or even volunteering in relevant fields. Naval Ravikant has a saying that is very true in today's situation.
"The means of learning are abundant, the desire to learn is scarce."
Intrinsic motivation is key to leveraging available resources effectively.
Utilize resources strategically.
Explore how available resources can be used to specifically enhance your existing strengths and unfair advantages.
Ask yourself:
What resources (financial, educational, technological, etc.) do I currently have access to that can help me further develop my strengths?
What professional development opportunities or educational programs could equip me with the skills and knowledge to further enhance my unfair advantages?
How can I strategically utilize online resources, training programs, or communities to accelerate my learning and growth in areas relevant to my strengths?
4. Continuous learning and growth
Embrace lifelong learning.
The world is constantly evolving, so commit to continuous learning and skill development. This can help you maintain and enhance your unfair advantages over time.
With AI emerging as a potential threat to the workforce, a lifelong learning habit is more crucial than ever.
Seek new challenges.
Step outside your comfort zone and engage in new challenges that can further develop your skills and expertise, potentially uncovering previously unrecognized strengths.
I believe saying "YES" to new opportunities, even when unsure how to tackle them, brings excitement and the conviction that solutions can be found.
Track your progress.
Regularly evaluate your progress and adjust your strategies as needed. This helps you stay focused on maximizing your unfair advantages.
Questions to reflect on:
What new skills or areas of knowledge could I explore to complement my existing strengths and create even more unfair advantages?
What are some new challenges or experiences that could push me outside my comfort zone and unlock hidden potential?
How can I track my progress in developing and utilizing my unfair advantages and adjust my strategies as needed?
Remember, your "unfair advantage" isn't a secret formula, but a journey of self-discovery. Embrace the limitations, explore your strengths, and fuel your curiosity. This isn't about replicating success; it's about unlocking your unique potential. Take the first step today, and discover the edge that awaits.
That’s all for today. Till next week!
Cheers,
Do Thi Dieu Thuong