Trusting what’s already in them

I’ve been ruminating on this for a while. While being born into a rich family is considered as one of the greatest privilege that a man could have, I think the real privilege is about having a certain innate trait and personal value that allows one to excel in life.

You can be born into a family living in a slump, but if you’re naturally driven, you have a better chance to win in life.

The human psyche is complex and difficult to comprehend. However, we can easily spot that those naturally endowed with traits valued by society’s standard often have an easier path through life than those who aren’t. And this is the whole idea of what privilege means - it provides people with a head start toward success.

I’m not even talking about natural’s talent or someone’s intelligent. I’m talking about how you naturally react to a situation, how you deal with obstacles in life, how you perceive the world, how you bond with other people, and most importantly, what value that you hold dear within yourself.

One thing that sparked this realization was hearing numerous ‘zero to one’ stories from different people. While many of them come from non-privileged or even poor backgrounds, I can also see that most of them share common qualities: they are driven, know how & when to seize opportunities, well-liked by their peers, and adept at networking, etc.

Now, some might argue that these traits can be learned, often saying “It’s all in the mindset.”

But that’s exactly what I’m talking about. There are people out there who doesn’t have to learn about these things because they naturally possess these qualities since they were born.

And mindset shift is not even as easy as learning math, if not impossible for some type of people.

So as a parent, seeing how energetic, strong-willed, and generally fearless my son is brings me so much relief. I’ve come to realize that once he’s born into this world, the only thing I can truly influence is how I nurture him. What he’s born with, his character and his natural traits are already set from the start.

I hate to come back to this debate around nature vs nurture. Because I believe that both are equally important. However, we can do very little to influence “nature”. And that’s why, I believe that winning in that aspect, can get you far.