Strengthen gratitude before success makes entitlement convenient.

Entitlement grows quietly out of success, because after enough good outcomes it becomes natural to feel they were owed. Gratitude built beforehand acts as a counterweight, keeping the luck visible. Without it, each thing you receive feels like a correction rather than a gift, and receiving more never satisfies.

Keep a running account of what you did not earn: the timing, the help, the circumstances of your birth. Not as guilt. As accuracy. It stays true whatever happens next.