From Mario Kart rivalries to job interviews, being prepared has turned “lucky breaks” into long-term confidence and career growth.
This might sound weird for the beginning of a money story, but the first time I played Mario Kart with my older cousins on the Nintendo DS is still burned into my brain. Why? Because I got absolutely demolished, that’s why.
I came dead last, every single round. At one point, my cousins laughed at me a bit too hard and I just walked away crying to find my parents. It made me realize two things: Rainbow Road is just chaos disguised as fun and I really, really hated losing.
So I did what any slightly obsessive kid with too much free time and a grudge would do: I practiced. A lot.
Hours of figuring out every drift, shortcut, and item box until it became second nature. Eventually, I reached the point where I almost couldn’t lose anymore. If you’re someone who thinks that Mario Kart is mostly luck, I would happily recommend trying this approach first.
Weeks later at the next family gathering, the tables had turned. I didn’t just beat my family members once. I won every single race. Even my uncles and aunts jumped in to see if they could beat me. Ultimate victory, and tears of joy this time.
The only problem? I wasn’t invited to play again at the next family gathering. Turns out, nobody really enjoys game night anymore when the little cousin suddenly decides to treat it like Formula 1 qualifying.
I still really enjoy playing Mario Kart, and at the time this was just a silly family gaming story. But looking back, it was also my first true lesson in how preparation quietly stacks up until it eventually becomes luck’s lesser-known sibling.
Growing Up Prepared
Mario Kart was when I first realized the power of preparation, but it took me years to figure out that my parents had actually been cultivating that instinct for years at home already. All without my little brother and me having a single clue.
So, how did that happen? Well, here’s the key detail: my mom was a primary school teacher.
Our house basically doubled as an unofficial after-school program, but one that was so fun we didn’t even notice. We’d play math games without realizing that’s what they were, read books that “magically” showed up in class later, and sometimes helped her prep lessons. By the time I walked into an actual classroom, the material felt like a rerun most of the time.
I’m very grateful for it now, because the importance of that early prep cannot be overstated. In primary school, it let me enthusiastically mess around with my friends without falling behind on school work. In high school it helped me keep up when things got tougher, since I’d already learned how to learn.
I also realize now, years later, that my parents never really cared about my actual grades. Bizarre right? Especially because my mom was a teacher herself. But whenever I came home with a test result, they’d just ask one simple question: “Are you happy with the result?” In other words: The only thing we care about, is that you care about the behavior, mindset and effort that sets you up for success, whether you actually got it or not.
That emphasis on effort over results probably explains why I never really felt pressured at school, and as a result actually did okay there. Was I the smartest kid around? Absolutely not, never have been and never will be. But I often had a head start, or was otherwise encouraged to create one for myself. Preparation had quietly become my cheat code, and I didn’t even know it.
Student Life: Prepping My Way Into Leadership
Fast forward to university. When I ran for chair of my study association, I wasn’t the only one. Two others wanted it too, so we had to interview for it. My strategy? Prepare until I could do it half asleep.
I practiced my pitch endlessly. Sometimes in my head during boring lectures, sometimes out loud in my room. I asked friends to grill me with questions until my answers rolled out naturally. I’d grab coffee with students who’d held the role before, ask them about their paths, how they got it, and what had made them successful. You probably think I went a little overboard, and yes, in hindsight I absolutely did. But when the day came, it worked. I got the role.
There were more interviews for other positions during my study time. Sometimes I was successful, sometimes not. But here’s the maybe underrated part of thorough preparation: it doesn’t guarantee you’ll win, but it does kill any nagging doubt after. If something doesn’t work out, at least you know it wasn’t because you slacked. And that’s probably another reason why my parents have always emphasized effort over outcome.
When Preparation Finally Paid Off
Still, the reality of student life is also that everything happens in a bubble. The biggest test actually came right after I graduated and urgently needed a job in the real world. I’d been putting out applications for months, being selective about what I actually wanted rather than just spamming resumes everywhere. And for a while, nothing was biting.
Then a recruiter, out of nowhere, reached out on LinkedIn with a role that seemed perfect. We had a call that felt natural and genuine, and from there things moved fast. We decided to kick off the formal application process.
Since I would get in financial trouble if I didn’t land that job, I treated the application the same way you’d learn playing the drums if it helps you to impress the girl you like: obsessively. Because when your moment comes, you want to absolutely nail it.
I researched the company, the team, the problems they were solving. Had coffee with current employees, read industry whitepapers nobody enjoys, and practiced both technical and personality-related interview answers out loud. I even skipped going out those nights to give myself the best shot at it.
When the day of the first interview came, I walked in knowing way more than just what the job description said, and it made me stand out. Normally the company required an extra interview round and an IQ test. I could skip both, and actually got an offer that same day.
To everyone else, it probably looked like luck. But it wasn’t, or at least not all of it. It was preparation meeting opportunity, and I’d been getting ready much more elaborately than anyone around me expected.
Preparation Compounds (Just Like Money)
Preparation actually works a lot like long-term investing: Each small effort feels insignificant at first, but do it long enough and the effects start to show.
Because I’d prepared, I was calm in interviews. Because I was calm, I landed leadership roles. Because I’d done those, step-ups in responsibility came with step-ups in pay. That’s not linear, that’s compound growth in disguise.
Today I earn well above the Dutch average at a relatively young age. That’s partly privilege, timing, and the support of others, but also preparation nudging the odds in my favor at key moments. The biggest promotion I ever got came from successfully managing a crisis. Luckily I had already been in a similar situation a few years before, and could bring those lessons forward.
And the payoff isn’t only financial. Preparation buys you something even more valuable: confidence. It makes challenges feel manageable, opportunities less scary, setbacks less permanent. That’s also why senior-level jobs almost always require experience, it’s just preparation wearing a different hat.
When Luck Stops Looking Like Luck
You never need to be 100% prepared, there will always be stuff you can only figure out by doing. But if money compounds when you save and invest, preparation compounds when you repeat small habits of learning, practicing, and showing up ready at critical moments.
Mario Kart victories, over-prepared pitches, awkward first interviews, all of them looked small on their own. But over time, they stacked. Each effort built into the next until it wasn’t just a skill or a win anymore. It became a way of moving through life.
Looking back, almost every turning point in my life came down to a combination of chance and being sufficiently ready when that chance showed up. That readiness already started at home, with parents who cared more about effort than outcomes and quietly prepared me without me even noticing. It cultivated a mindset that turned Rainbow Road from humiliation into victory, opened doors in student life, gave me confidence in job hunting, and shaped my career and income.
Seneca was right: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” But here’s the modern version: if you keep preparing, opportunities stop feeling like accidents. They feel like the next lap in the race. And this time, you’re ready for the banana peel.
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