How to Win the Ovarian Lottery

Photo: Lisa Brewster

Warren Buffett popularised (coined?) the phrase “ovarian lottery”. It’s the idea that fate plays a part in your success, because being born in a certain place makes a huge difference in the outcome of your life.

Here’s how Buffett describes it in The Snowball, the most comprehensive biography of his life:

I’ve had it so good in this world, you know. The odds were fifty-to-one against me born in the United States in 1930. I won the lottery the day I emerged from the womb by being in the United States instead of in some other country where my chances would have been way different.

Imagine there are two identical twins in the womb, both equally bright and energetic. And the genie says to them, “One of you is going to be born in the United States, and one of you is going to be born in Bangladesh. And if you wind up in Bangladesh, you will pay no taxes. What percentage of your income would you bid to be the one this is born in the United States?” It says something about the fact that society has something to do with your fate and not just your innate qualities. The people who say, “I did it all myself,” and think of themselves as Horatio Alger – believe me, they’d bid more to be in the United States than in Bangladesh. That’s the Ovarian Lottery.

But you want to know the greatest thing about the ovarian lottery?

You’ve already won it.

At this moment you’re reading this article and that means a few things:

• You have an internet connection.
• You can read.
• You have more opportunity than most of the world.

But it’s not all peaches and cream. Now you have that dreaded word: responsibility. You’ve won, yes, but now what about all the people whose numbers didn’t come up?

There’s some statistic like most lottery winners end up bankrupt within a few years, or something along those lines. Their winnings go to waste and they end up worse off than someone who wasn’t given such a clear opportunity. The same goes for the ovarian lottery.

Being born in a 1st world country, even if you’re at the bottom of the economic ladder gives you millions of chances to learn, grow and do something remarkable with your life. Yet most people waste it. They go to a job they hate, hang out with hope-sucking vampires, and then waste up to 8 hours per day in front of the boob tube. And what’s worse is that they complain! On and on with the complaining.

But now you know you’ve won the ovarian lottery and you’re going to take the opportunity that’s been given.

Congratulate yourself. This is cause for celebration. What can’t you do now? Nothing is impossible when you understand the leg up you’ve been given. Feel liberated. Seriously. Right now. Feel the awesomeness flowing through your veins.

Do something remarkable with your life. Discover your life’s purpose and live it. Want to be a writer? Write. Want to be an artist? Create art. Want to travel? Travel. Excuses and reasons against fulfilling dreams won’t go away. Break free now.

Alleviate suffering. In the words of Buddha:

“If you have little, give little; if you own a middling amount, give a middling amount; if you have much, give much. It is not fitting not to give at all. Kosiya, I say to you, ‘Share your wealth, use it. Tread the path of the noble ones. One who eats alone eats not happily.”

But giving doesn’t have to be entirely economic. I aim to give with my writing as well as my wallet. I love solving problems, and if in 40 years I’m still helping people solve problems I’ll be a very happy man. My words may not feed a starving child (that’s where the wallet comes in) but I envision a future where by my advice could spark charitable giving and create the change that’d I’d like to see.

And I also found this video from Cody McKibben of his volunteering experiences in Thailand just fantastic. Caring doesn’t cost a thing.

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