He was pushed out of the nest early and went on to succeed against the odds.

Being the favorite child is not always a good thing. In an ideal family, there would be no favorites, and parents would treat all their kids equally, but we all know that doesn’t always work in practice. Favoritism exists in nearly all social dynamics, and the nuclear family is no exception. 

You would assume that a favorite child would receive more love from their parents, which would make them more confident and help them succeed. While that does happen, that’s not always the case. Many favorite children think that because they’re their parents’ favorites, they don’t have to work very hard to achieve what they want. Their parents may be more likely to let them live at home without a job, and enable their bad behavior because they’re the favorite who can do no wrong. Meanwhile, the less favored child, depending on their temperament, might be motivated to succeed in life because they want to feel like the winner that their parents never let them feel like. If someone has felt inadequate throughout childhood, they may do everything in their power to ensure they don’t feel that way in adulthood. Never having to financially or emotionally rely upon the family that rejected you is aspirational for grown-up kids who were never their parents’ favorite.