I’ve been a fan of Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s work for a long time. He is not only a great thinker, but also an excellent writer who has a quite unique skill of translating complex ideas and concepts into easy-to-grasp language.

He also doesn’t spare the reader with his endless cynicism, his specific kind of humor, and his great passion for classical art and literature—no matter which direction his writing wanders.

Fooled by Randomness, one of Taleb’s most well-known books, is a great reminder that randomness (luck) plays a much greater role in people’s success stories than we realize or are willing to admit.

“When things go our way we reject the lack of certainty.” — Nassim Taleb

I try to remind myself of this every time the browser on my phone recommends me to read those “inspiring” articles about how a 25-year old guy became a millionaire in a single year by only working 10 hours a week, or how a once-struggling solo mom of four now runs a multi-billion dollar company selling baby food.

The problem, Taleb writes, is that we get completely blinded by how much randomness there is to things happening the way they do (on either spectrum, good and bad).

Sure, there is hard work and talent and all that. But so much of what we consider as “success” is to pure randomness of events, decisions, circumstances. As he would say:

“No matter how sophisticated our choices, how good we are at dominating the odds, randomness will have the last word.” — Nassim Taleb

So here’s to acceptance of life as it comes, with all its risks and opportunities!

Kindly,

Neva.