In a world where everyone has different starting conditions, the worst strategy is to accept your position
The world has indeed never been particularly fair: some people get a strong education, connections, and support from childhood, while others start from almost nothing. Pretending this difference doesn't exist is foolish, but the distortion in how we see it is almost always stronger than the difference itself: people systematically underestimate their own advantages far more than they overestimate others'.
If nothing and no one is truly holding you back right now - that's already a huge advantage. You can try launching a startup, you can work harder than everyone else, you can spend time on skills that won't pay off today but will affect your life a few years from now. As long as you have no serious obligations, you have a resource most people don't - the freedom to try and fail.
Moreover, your network is capital; your location is capital. What seems like boring routine to you might be an opportunity that someone else, from another part of the world, has spent years trying to get closer to.
So yes, you can't always change your starting conditions, but you can almost always decide how to use them. And what looks like a disadvantage today, with the right approach, becomes your strongest advantage.
The world has indeed never been particularly fair: some people get a strong education, connections, and support from childhood, while others start from almost nothing. Pretending this difference doesn't exist is foolish, but the distortion in how we see it is almost always stronger than the difference itself: people systematically underestimate their own advantages far more than they overestimate others'.
If nothing and no one is truly holding you back right now - that's already a huge advantage. You can try launching a startup, you can work harder than everyone else, you can spend time on skills that won't pay off today but will affect your life a few years from now. As long as you have no serious obligations, you have a resource most people don't - the freedom to try and fail.
Moreover, your network is capital; your location is capital. What seems like boring routine to you might be an opportunity that someone else, from another part of the world, has spent years trying to get closer to.
So yes, you can't always change your starting conditions, but you can almost always decide how to use them. And what looks like a disadvantage today, with the right approach, becomes your strongest advantage.