I Was Wrong About Success

Raised in a lower-middle class family, I always punched above my weight in pursuit of greatness. When results were favorable, I always weave a narrative of hard work and sheer willpower — I was wrong.

Get good grades, secure a high-paying job, live a luxurious life — I thought nothing is impossible if I put in effort over time. To some extent, yes, but to a larger extent, I was just lucky.

Among my most treasured achievements include: my current job and my university. I used to believe that I engineered my way to greatness and that success must be attributed to my efforts and grit alone. After all, it wasn’t an easy road.

Until I discovered a deeper understanding of the words privilege and luck — the existence of additional advantageous resources and their timing, being there at the right place at the right time for the right need.

Barging into venture capital (investments) is one of the toughest paths. Usually people need to have MBAs, worked in top tier consulting or private equity firms, or exited a unicorn startup — I’ve achieved none of them. Given my firm is based in Singapore, I was also competing against the best of Asia, not just fresh grads but also experienced hires.

Yet I got in, because I thought I was Jemarkable.

I thought.

The story I always tell myself was: I deliberately developed the right skillsets and credentials to make success inevitably fall into my lap. I even thought that I took the steps to “increase [my] luck surface area”. In reality, there are so much things beyond my control that surprisingly made the stars align.

When it was down to the final two candidates back then, if my boss chose the other guy, would I still be where I am today? If they had a different set of judges, would I still have won the case competitions that enriched my resume? As for my internships, if it was a different HR who interviewed me, would I still have gotten into these famous firms?

I was lucky and privileged enough to learn the secrets of getting into competitive careers because of the selflessness of my mentors back then. I am standing on the shoulders of the giants who were generous enough to answer my questions on how to win and lead. I am also lucky to have teammates who know what to do as if we share the same braincells. What I have now, is more than what I worked for.

But that does mean I give up on designing things within my control? Is success the end goal of life? What does success look like in the first place? Play silly games, win silly prizes.

I am wrong on many facets of success. But what I’m sure is: success is personal, it’s how each individual defines it.