Success and Birth Order

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How does the birth order affects one's success? You might believe that the first born people should be more successful than their younger siblings because first-born individuals gain leadership skills and have special place in the family hierarchy. However, some studies and the Originals Book: How Non-Conformists Move the World show that last-born siblings are more prone to success than their older siblings.

When the last child of the family is born, the parents now have no energy left to bring up him or her as they did with the first born child. This leads to more flexibility and freedom for the last-born child. Now, the parents are more flexible with rules and that can lead to increase in creativity and imagination. Some studies have shown that rules, in general, lead to decrease in creativity and imagination. For example, school homework needs to be done between 7 pm - 9 pm every day except weekends. Or, you cannot be outside after 11 pm is another rule.

When the first child is born he or she does not have another sibling to be compared against. When the second or last child is born, parents temporarily shift their attention to new born child and that makes the first born afraid of being neglected and/or dethroned so he or she shows dominance over the younger sibling. Thus, the younger child as he or she grows will learn that something needs to happen about this superiority. Because of this, the younger child has a stage to rebel that will make him or her a risk-taker. Some studies show that last-born children participate in high-risk sports than their older siblings and this translates to risk-taking in professional fields.

Note: Most of these studies only apply to families who have four children or more.