A lot of parents tell their children that can achieve anything if they work hard and apply themselves. But that doesn’t account for luck, which is a huge factor that many highly successful people have said they owe their careers to, points out Anthony Mackie, star of the 2025 movie “Captain America: Brave New World.”

“We are lying to our kids,” Mackie, 46, said in a recent interview with The Pivot Podcast. “We tell [them] … if they do right and they make the good grades and they go to the programs, they will become successful. ‘If you work hard enough, your work will [pay off].’ And that’s not true.”

In many cases, “success is given [and] not earned,” Mackie continued.

Mackie had been an actor for over 10 years before landing the role that many consider his big break, as Sam Wilson in 2014′s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” he said. After graduating from the prestigious Juilliard School in 2001, he performed in both on- and Off-Broadway productions and in Academy award-winning films, like 2008′s “The Hurt Locker.” However, the New Orleans native struggled to break out in Hollywood’s highly competitive landscape.

Mackie estimates he “put in 10,750 hours of training” before landing that life-changing job. He was proactive, too: He wrote letters to executives at Disney’s Marvel Studios over a decade ago in the hopes of landing a role in one of the studio’s popular superhero films, he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023.

While the letters didn’t result in any roles right away, Mackie eventually landed a meeting with directors Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. They offered him a part in an upcoming film, though they couldn’t share many details: ”[They said], ‘We can’t say what character you’re playing or who else is going to be in it. Would you do it?’” Mackie said.

The actor agreed because he liked the directors and believed joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up, he said. Fortunately for Mackie, the role of Sam Wilson proved popular enough to grow from a small character into a headliner.

Mackie is far from the only successful person to recognize the power of luck. You can be the smartest and most deserving person in the room, the billionaire and Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman Charlie Munger told students at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business in 2018, but there are no guarantees: “There’s also a factor of luck that comes into this thing.”

He added: “I did not intend to get rich. I wanted to get independent. I just overshot.”

Similarly, in 2023, Mark Cuban told GQ that any billionaire who says they could definitely start over from scratch is “lying their a– off.” That’s because a person also needs “luck” and good “timing” to run a highly lucrative company, particularly in the fast-moving tech industry.

If he’d been born three years earlier, he likely wouldn’t have the status that he has today, Cuban added.

Put simply, being in the right place at the right time, and having connections, can be as important as having the skills and experience.

People who benefit from luck the most have a few traits in common, according to Richard Wiseman, author of “The Luck Factor” and a psychology professor at the University of Hertfordshire.

1. They’re optimistic. Even when they find themselves in bleak circumstances, “lucky” people recognize that things “could have been far worse,” Wiseman wrote for CNBC Make It in 2022.
2. They always jump at new opportunities. Lucky people display an openness and adaptability that puts them in situations to network and make new connections, according to Wiseman.
3. They listen to their intuition. Too much time spent pondering can lead to “indecision,” he added, writing that lucky people tend to “make quick decisions …. By trusting their gut, they’re more likely to take action and expose themselves to new opportunities.”
4. They recover quickly from setbacks. This allows lucky people to remain positive when things don’t go how they’d hoped and “increases the likelihood of them continuing to live a lucky life,” according to Wiseman.

Embodying these four traits can help put you in a better position to make your goals a reality, he added.

The second and third traits in particular helped Mackie, who, in 2025, became a new face of the “Captain America” franchise, once led by former co-star Chris Evans.

“When you’re given a huge opportunity like that, you have to take into consideration that you might fail,” Mackie said. At first he was afraid, but he didn’t let that stop him. He had a network of mentors and supporters who could help, he realized: “I had to lean on those teachers and the people around me who got me to that point.”

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We’ve all done it. You’re in a meeting, on a date or even texting a friend, and two words slip into the conversation: “I think we should go with option A.” “I think we should see this movie.” “I think we should leave at 7.”

While “I think” can be harmless sprinkled in here and there, if you use it too often and in the wrong context, it can weaken your message, diminish your presence and undermine your confidence. 

“I think” is an example of minimizing language: words and phrases that soften your statements and make you seem less sure of yourself. Other common minimizing language includes “just,” “sorry” and “maybe.” 

While these words may seem polite, they can dilute your credibility and make your ideas easier to dismiss, especially in a professional context.

Instead of “I think,” swap in “I recommend.” Compare these two statements:

• “I think we should move the deadline.”
• “I recommend moving the deadline.”

The first feels hesitant, while the second feels authoritative and action-oriented. Even if the message you want to convey is exactly the same, your words carry more weight when framed as a recommendation rather than what can be interpreted as a passing thought.

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Here are a few examples of this swap in action at work and in life: 

• Instead of: “I think we should go with the second proposal.“
  Try: “I recommend we go with the second proposal.”
• Instead of: “I think we should prioritize this project.“
  Try: “I recommend prioritizing this project.”
• Instead of: “I think you should try this restaurant.“
  Try: “I recommend trying this restaurant.”
• Instead of:  “I think you should change your reservation.“
  Try: “I recommend changing your reservation.”

The shift is subtle but powerful. Saying “I recommend” instead of “I think” makes you sound more confident and decisive, gives you more influence, and ensures you’re seen as someone whose opinion matters.

There are times when it feels like you really should use “I think.” Perhaps you’re not confident in your recommendation, or you purposefully want to soften your message.

While it’s certainly a path you can take, you can still use “I recommend” in these situations — with a twist.

Preface your recommendation with an indication of what you’re drawing on to give it. For example:

• “Based on what I’ve seen, I recommend…”
• “Looking at the data, I’d recommend…”
• “From my experience, I’d recommend…”

This keeps your statement strong while acknowledging some uncertainty and leaving room for further discussion.

Any time you try to disrupt a pattern that’s deeply ingrained in your everyday conversations, it takes practice. Here are a few strategies you can try to break this particular communication habit:

1. Listen for it. Start noticing how often you say “I think,” and in what contexts it tends to pop up. It may surprise you how many times a day you use this phrase. 
2. Enlist help. Ask friends or peers to call it out when they hear it to help keep you accountable.
3. Pause before you speak. Speaking more slowly and adding pauses is already helpful when trying to appear more authoritative and confident. Now, you can also catch yourself when you’re about to say “I think” and give yourself enough time to swap it out.
4. Observe your writing. “I think” often creeps into our written communication too, especially quick messages over Slack or Teams. Take a second pass at your writing before hitting send to make sure you’re keeping things concise and using strong phrases like “I recommend.”

Confident communication isn’t just about what you say, it’s about how you say it. By swapping “I think” for “I recommend,” you’ll sound more authoritative at work — and come across as more self-assured in everyday life.

Lorraine K. Lee is an award-winning keynote speaker and CEO of RISE Learning Solutions. She’s also the best-selling author of “Unforgettable Presence: Get Seen, Gain Influencer, and Catapult Your Career,” which was named a must-read by the Next Big Idea Club. She teaches popular courses with LinkedIn Learning and Stanford Continuing Studies. Past clients include Zoom, Cisco, LinkedIn, ASICS, McKinsey & Company, and many others.

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Depending on your work history and other savings, Social Security income may be a crucial part of your retirement strategy.

In fact, 77% of current retirees in the U.S. rely on Social Security income to make ends meet, according to a recent Bankrate survey. But not everyone gets the same amount.

In Connecticut, for example, retirement beneficiaries receive an average payment of $2,114 a month, the most in the country, according to the latest available Social Security Administration data. Beneficiaries in Mississippi receive the lowest average payment of $1,756 a month.

It’s worth noting that averages can be skewed by a small pool of beneficiaries receiving more or less than the bulk of recipients. In Alaska and New Mexico, for example, the average retiree benefit is more than $100 greater than each state’s median payment, which tends to be more representative of each place’s retiree population.

While averages can be useful to get a picture of the Social Security payments in your state overall, your individual monthly retirement benefit depends on three major factors:

1. How long you work at jobs where you paid Social Security taxes, including self-employment
2. The income you receive during those years
3. The age you decide to start collecting benefits

The factor you generally have the most control over is when you start collecting benefits.

Your full retirement age depends on when you were born; for Americans born in 1960 and later, it’s 67 years old. But you can start claiming Social Security retirement benefits as early as 62.

However, doing so could lose you up to 30% of your maximum benefit, according to the Social Security Administration. Your benefit is reduced based on the number of months between when you start claiming and your full retirement age.

You can alternatively choose to delay benefits until age 70, in which case your monthly payment will go up. Your benefits increase by 8% every year you delay claiming until your 70th birthday.

Say someone who had worked steadily since 22 started collecting benefits at 62, receiving monthly payments of around $2,830. If they had waited until age 70 to start claiming benefits, their monthly payment would have been over $5,000, according to data from the SSA.

If you’re curious how much your own benefit may be, you can create an account on the SSA website and download your personal statement to see what you’ve earned so far and what your benefits could look like in retirement.

And below, check out the average and median monthly payments retirees receive from Social Security in every state.

• Average monthly payment: $1,856
• Median monthly payment: $1,794

• Average monthly payment: $1,837
• Median monthly payment: $1,733

• Average monthly payment: $1,949
• Median monthly payment: $1,913

• Average monthly payment: $1,790
• Median monthly payment: $1,717

• Average monthly payment: $1,866
• Median monthly payment: $1,767

• Average monthly payment: $1,958
• Median monthly payment: $1,898

• Average monthly payment: $2,114
• Median monthly payment: $2,084

• Average monthly payment: $2,090
• Median monthly payment: $2,064

• Average monthly payment: $1,894
• Median monthly payment: $1,839

• Average monthly payment: $1,859
• Median monthly payment: $1,789

• Average monthly payment: $1,908
• Median monthly payment: $1,854

• Average monthly payment: $1,880
• Median monthly payment: $1,829

• Average monthly payment: $1,934
• Median monthly payment: $1,908

• Average monthly payment: $1,966
• Median monthly payment: $1,953

• Average monthly payment: $1,921
• Median monthly payment: $1,884

• Average monthly payment: $1,982
• Median monthly payment: $1,930

• Average monthly payment: $1,803
• Median monthly payment: $1,748

• Average monthly payment: $1,759
• Median monthly payment: $1,674

• Average monthly payment: $1,816
• Median monthly payment: $1,741

• Average monthly payment: $2,054
• Median monthly payment: $2,008

• Average monthly payment: $2,003
• Median monthly payment: $1,946

• Average monthly payment: $1,997
• Median monthly payment: $2,005

• Average monthly payment: $2,016
• Median monthly payment: $1,982

• Average monthly payment: $1,756
• Median monthly payment: $1,673

• Average monthly payment: $1,869
• Median monthly payment: $1,883

• Average monthly payment: $1,817
• Median monthly payment: $1,751

• Average monthly payment: $1,937
• Median monthly payment: $1,880

• Average monthly payment: $1,843
• Median monthly payment: $1,785

• Average monthly payment: $2,094
• Median monthly payment: $2,039

• Average monthly payment: $2,110
• Median monthly payment: $2,100

• Average monthly payment: $1,799
• Median monthly payment: $1,696

• Average monthly payment: $1,951
• Median monthly payment: $1,914

• Average monthly payment: $1,909
• Median monthly payment: $1,832

• Average monthly payment: $1,856
• Median monthly payment: $1,795

• Average monthly payment: $1,858
• Median monthly payment: $1,854

• Average monthly payment: $1,856
• Median monthly payment: $1,795

• Average monthly payment: $1,918
• Median monthly payment: $1,867

• Average monthly payment: $1,979
• Median monthly payment: $1,946

• Average monthly payment: $1,972
• Median monthly payment: $1,923

• Average monthly payment: $1,926
• Median monthly payment: $1,865

• Average monthly payment: $1,848
• Median monthly payment: $1,780

• Average monthly payment: $1,890
• Median monthly payment: $1,822

• Average monthly payment: $1,865
• Median monthly payment: $1,776

• Average monthly payment: $1,988
• Median monthly payment: $1,939

• Average monthly payment: $1,961
• Median monthly payment: $1,883

• Average monthly payment: $1,985
• Median monthly payment: $1,906

• Average monthly payment: $2,022
• Median monthly payment: $1,992

• Average monthly payment: $1,839
• Median monthly payment: $1,807

• Average monthly payment: $1,957
• Median monthly payment: $1,932

• Average monthly payment: $1,950
• Median monthly payment: $1,908

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Low points are inevitable in any relationship; no two people can see eye to eye all the time. But when push comes to shove, how do you know if your relationship has the foundation to endure? 

As a psychologist who studies relationships, I’ve come to learn that thriving relationships often share some key traits.

Here are four simple questions that can determine longevity of your connection. If your answers are all “yes,” you’re likely on solid ground.

Every healthy relationship should be grounded upon a foundation of friendship. Imagine your partner as just a friend: Would you still want to spend time with them, laugh with them and turn to them for support?

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Couples who say “yes” to this understand that relationships require a lot more than just passion and commitment. Studies even show that if like your partner as a person, your bond will be much harder to break.

On the other hand, some couples stay together out of habit, fear of starting over or because they feel they’ve already invested too much in the relationship to let it go. This is what keeps people in unhappy relationships for years.

Your life partner should bring out the best in you. Does having them in your life make you feel supported, loved and inspired to grow? Or do you feel stifled, diminished and drained?

Truly great relationships often reflect what’s called the “Michelangelo effect.” Just like the artist shaped raw stone into breathtaking sculptures, healthy partners will “sculpt” each other into better versions of themselves. They encourage your goals, cheer on your successes and remind you of your worth even on hard days.

Unhealthy relationships can have the opposite effect. If being around your partner makes you feel small, criticized or unsure of yourself, it’s worth reflecting on why. The way you feel when you’re around your partner is often one of the biggest clues about how healthy your relationship is.

No one is perfect, but ignoring flaws isn’t really what love is about. Rather, we all have to learn that those imperfections aren’t what define your partner, nor your relationship. Couples in healthy relationships don’t rely on fantasies of how the other person could change — they focus on loving each other as they are presently.

This doesn’t mean you should tolerate toxic behavior. But it does mean accepting the small fumbles and imperfections that make your partner human, like forgetting to pick up their socks once in a while or telling the same joke over and over.

If you can genuinely say you’d choose your partner if they stayed exactly as they are, warts and all, then you’ve likely built a relationship that can stand the test of time.

One of the clearest signs of a strong relationship is that your partner isn’t just there for the hard times — they’re also your go-to person for sharing your wins. When you get exciting news, do you instinctively reach for your phone to call them? Do you look forward to celebrating your successes together?

Psychologists call this “capitalization,” and research shows that couples who actively share and celebrate each other’s good news tend to have stronger, happier relationships. It builds a sense of partnership and camaraderie — one that reinforces that your joys are their joys, too.

Mark Travers, PhD, is a psychologist who specializes in relationships. He holds degrees from Cornell University and the University of Colorado Boulder. He is the lead psychologist at Awake Therapy, a telehealth company that provides online psychotherapy, counseling and coaching. He is also the curator of the popular mental health and wellness website, Therapytips.org.

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Every year, millions of basketball fans fill out brackets trying to pick the winning teams for the NCAA’s March Madness men’s basketball tournament, often competing in office-wide pools in hopes of scoring prizes ranging from bragging rights to thousands of dollars.

Berkshire Hathaway is no different. Chairman Warren Buffett has been running a March Madness bracket challenge for employees for years, and this year it’s a little easier to win.

Employees of the conglomerate can win $1 million if they correctly pick winners of 30 out of the tournament’s 32 first-round games, set to tip off on Thursday and Friday. In 2024, employees had to get through the first round’s 32 games without error to win the grand prize, though they had free passes for the eight games played by No. 1 and No. 2 seed teams since it’s rare for those teams to be eliminated in their first game.

“I’m getting older,” the 94-year old told The Wall Street Journal about this year’s challenge. “I want to give away a million dollars to somebody while I’m still around as chairman.”

Back in 2016, Buffett offered a prize of $1 million a year for the employee’s lifetime if they had a perfect bracket for the first two rounds, but no employee won the grand prize. An employee can still score that mega-payout this year by holding onto a perfect bracket for the first 48 games.

The NCAA says the most-perfect bracket ever completed had the first 49 games correctly predicted by a man in Ohio in 2019. Perhaps unsurprisingly, since the NCAA began tracking in 2014, no one has ever completed a perfect bracket.

It will still be a tough task to perfectly predict 30 correct games. But Berkshire Hathaway employees can win $250,000 just for having the most correct outcomes if the grand prize goes unclaimed, The Wall Street Journal reports. 

Though Buffett’s employees won’t have to wager any of their own money to win the company’s prizes, many Americans plan to put some money on the games. March Madness fans are expected to bet $3.1 billion on this year’s tournament, the American Gambling Association projected.

And while many bettors and non-gamblers who fill out a bracket may hope — or even believe — they can predict every game’s outcome, the odds of doing that are as high as 1 in 9.2 quintillion, according to the NCAA.

It can be fun to compete against your peers and strangers online in low or no-stakes bracket challenges, but know the risks of betting actual money on sports. Even the most in-the-know sports analysts and viewers can’t predict what will happen at these games and wagering more money than you’re comfortable losing isn’t worth your financial wellbeing. 

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