Getting picked last once doesn’t predict where you finish. Getting picked first doesn’t either.

Early sorting happens fast, is done by other children, and runs on almost no information. Being picked last reflects what a group of twelve-year-olds thought in ten seconds, and being picked first often reflects an advantage in height or confidence that stops mattering by twenty. Neither one contains a prediction. The mistake is treating a quick judgment as a measurement.

If you are carrying one of those memories, it may help to name how little was actually in it. And if you are ever the one picking, go slowly on purpose, because people remember these moments far longer than they remember the game.