The advantages of being unlucky

“Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.” – E.B. White

For my money, the most dangerous common belief is this:

“There’s no such thing as luck.”

In his 2008 book “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell dug through rosters of professional sports teams.

What did he find?

You’re more likely to become a professional athlete if you’re born in the right month.

“In any elite group of hockey players — the very best of the best — 40 percent of the players will have been born between January and March, 30 percent between April and June, 20 percent between July and September, and 10 percent between October and December.” 

It’s also true in baseball: “More major league players are born in August than in any other month.”

Most youth sports have an age-based cutoff date. In hockey, the cutoff date is often Jan. 1.

Gladwell again: 

“A boy who turns ten on January 2, then, could be playing alongside someone who doesn’t turn ten until the end of the year —and at that age, in preadolescence, a twelve-month gap in age represents an enormous difference in physical maturity.”

The majority of the time, a 10-year-old is going to have an athletic advantage over a 9-year-old. It’s not necessarily talent. It’s just a physical difference. The 10-year-old will usually be bigger, faster and stronger.

So when it comes time to pick players for all-star teams or travel teams, who’s more likely to be chosen?

It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Athletes born closer to the cutoff date in youth sports have a physical advantage. So they’re perceived to be better. And they’re chosen for better teams or leagues where they have more resources, better coaches, better teammates and better competition.

Of course, professional athletes work hard. They have eye-popping talent. They’re dedicated, they’re driven, they’re disciplined.

But for many, the first step to success was dictated by when they were born. It was dictated by sheer luck.

When you’re born, you're given three tickets — one to the economic lottery, one to the geographic lottery and one to the genetic lottery.

Guess what? The numbers on those tickets matter — tremendously.

But when you believe there’s no such thing as luck, you deny a fundamental truth about the world.

Defining talents are innate. People are going to be smarter than you. People are going to be more attractive than you. People are going to have better opportunities, wider safety nets and more open doors. 

Why?

Luck. Pure chance. Winning lottery tickets.

Once you accept that luck is real, you can go down one of two paths. 

First, you can get discouraged. You can cling to a “woe is me” mindset. You can grow bitter, you can wallow, you can stagnate. You can let it be your excuse for the only life you ever get. 

Or, you can let it motivate you. You can accept that you’re disadvantaged in some areas due to circumstances out of your control. You can accept that your mountain to climb is higher. You can use your lack of luck to drive you.

So look: There is such a thing as luck.

And if you don’t have it, be grateful.

Because those who don’t have luck are able to make much larger strides in life than those who do.

There is such a thing as luck. But you can overcome where yours falls short.

There is such a thing as luck. But effort will get you farther.

There is such a thing as luck. And once you accept that, you’ll realize you don’t need it.