How often do you hear phrases like “Oh, they just got lucky” or “They’re just fortunate”? Or maybe you even catch yourself saying them?
In countless situations, people attribute someone’s success, achievements, or vibrant, dynamic life to mere luck.

I sometimes fall into this trap myself — thinking that someone’s success was just a matter of chance.

Of course, there are those who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, growing up with every advantage handed to them. But even they have a challenge: keeping and growing what they were given instead of wasting it. That takes skill, too.

For everyone else, even being in the “right place at the right time” or “luckily meeting the right person” requires a certain path — a journey that ultimately leads them to that so-called lucky moment.

I think one of the problems that led to this - The Illusion of Social Media.
The modern world, with its endless social media feeds, has distorted our perception of reality. More often than not, what we see is a highly curated and filtered version of someone’s life, where only 10-15% of it might be shown.

This can lead to two reactions:
1️⃣ We envy the perfect picture - the luxury, the success, the seemingly effortless achievements — and we want the same. But in reality, there might be nothing substantial behind that picture.
2️⃣ We dismiss other people’s success, assuming they just got lucky — that they somehow made a quantum leap without effort. Yet, we have no idea how many times they tried and failed, how much effort they put in, and what it really cost them to get to where they are now.

From this topic, another, even more important (imo) and profound one emerges — because this time, it’s about ourselves. It touches on how we choose and set our own goals and desires.

Far too often, we aspire to become those so-called “lucky ones” — to achieve the same results, to live that kind of life. (Which is yet another reason why people tend to dismiss others’ achievements—until they reach them themselves.) But do we ever stop to think: what if what we saw in others and now crave for ourselves isn’t actually what we need?

Do we ask ourselves whether we’re truly willing to pay the same price that they did?

Is this really our genuine desire? Or are we simply chasing after beautiful snapshots of someone else’s life? (We’ll dive deeper into this next time.)

But if you’ve truly made up your mind — if you know for certain that this is what you want, that you want it just as much (or even more) — then simply start your journey.

And remember: everyone’s path is different. Even when "Ceteris paribus"