You are not a Lottery Ticket

March 25, 2025

“Indefinite fears about the far future shouldn’t stop us from making definite plans today” -Peter Thiel

If you know him, you either love him or hate him. There’s very little in between for PayPal founder and renowned Venture Capitalist Peter Thiel. Now put your feelings aside and just take the quote for its substance. It would be a mistake to accept or reject wisdom solely because it comes from someone you adore or detest.

Locus of Control is a psychological term that refers to your perception of the causes of your life. If you have a strong internal locus of control you believe your own actions are the causes for your life’s situation. A strong external locus of control means you believe fate or others’ actions have created your circumstance.

Not sure about you, but one of those beliefs feels a whole lot more empowering than the other. Don’t outsource your decisions, own them.

This quote is from a speech at SXSW over a decade ago. The title of the speech is “You Are Not a Lottery Ticket”.