What should I say to students who think they鈥檙e unlucky?
You can tell them that how you think about luck and opportunity matters. Here鈥檚 something I wrote about the topic for as a :
I grew up unwealthy in a profoundly wealthy town. It seemed that some people got all the breaks and had all the connections and all the money. But not me. When I was in high school, I thought, 鈥淪ome people have good opportunities, and others just don鈥檛.鈥� And it seemed like something I couldn鈥檛 change. I felt trapped by my circumstances鈥攏o matter how hard I tried, it seemed I鈥檇 never be able to open the doors that others had opened for them.
What makes some people think they can cultivate opportunities and others think they can鈥檛? And how do these mindsets affect how they act?
In recent , my colleagues and I found that those with a fixed mindset about opportunity鈥攖hey saw opportunities as relatively set鈥攚ere more likely to just hope for the best or give up because success seemed unlikely. Those with a growth mindset about opportunity鈥攖hey viewed opportunities as changeable鈥攎ade active plans and persisted toward goals. They had relatively high expectations for success because even if opportunities were not immediately available, they believed they could find or create new ones.
For example, in a group of unemployed people looking for work, those with a stronger growth mindset were more proactive in their job search, cultivated more possibilities that could lead to employment, and were more likely to have secured a job five months later.
Crucially, mindsets matter most when opportunities seem scarce. When options are readily available, most people favor taking action and expect success. But when opportunities seem unavailable, the meaning of the situation changes for those with a fixed mindset, and they鈥檙e more passive about their circumstances.
After I graduated from high school, I came to realize that some people who did enviable things鈥攖hose who got into top universities, landed record deals, or climbed Mount Kilimanjaro鈥攚eren鈥檛 born with a silver spoon in their mouths. They were proactive people who took matters into their own hands and cultivated opportunities. Everything changed after that shift in mindset, and it put me on a drastically different trajectory in life.
顿辞苍鈥檛 wait for lucky breaks to fall into your lap.
Do have a growth mindset about opportunity. The next time you feel your options are limited, ask yourself, 鈥淲hat steps can I take to find new possibilities that will help me achieve my goals鈥攐r how can I create them?鈥� At the same time, opportunities aren鈥檛 distributed equally in society, and through no fault of their own, unjust barriers prevent many people from pursuing their goals. But to the extent that opportunities can be available, a growth mindset may help open a path.
