If you look at what goes on, you should see that life is all about beating attrition. When others quit, you want to stay. In a lot of “games” and industries, life is all about sticking it out longer than all the rest. What you learn over time, is that most people give up too soon to get the maximum gain. This applies to most activities, and applying this principle is what will make all the difference in your professional life.
The environment is becoming increasingly winner take all
We live in an environment in which pretty much everyone is coming for your job. The world is developing fast, and people have neither the patience nor the humility to avoid shooting for the moon. Additionally, tech is deflationary. The faster new technology is made, the faster someone else’s job disappears. This means that in order to succeed in today’s era, you need to be at the top of your field, whatever it may be. Practicing more than everyone is the best way to increase your odds of being at the top of your field.
Most people don’t evaluate their talents, fail at their passions
This is why there are so many failed SoundCloud rappers, along with people who are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for their degrees. People just don’t follow the money/their talents. This causes them to switch around as they inevitably meet failure and are forced to pivot in order to contribute to society.
Most people fear being insecure and fear the unknown
This is what you can use to get yourself ahead of 90+% of people. If you can evaluate an industry that will be worth staying in and stay in it, you’re going to find yourself in uncharted territory for a few years. After a while, you will start to find your footing and figure it out. That’s when you find yourself ahead of 80% of people. It’s simple but not easy.
People get desperate during eras of technological disruption
This is for fairly predictable reasons. They lose their jobs. They don’t see a way to make the income back. This will make people do all sorts of strange things: go to school, start new careers, try new business ideas. A lot of the time these people find success, but less than if they had been doing the same thing consistently for a long time. Try to find something that you can do in life for the next 10 years.
I’ve written a few articles about consistency, and a lot of articles about hard work and motivation. I also wrote one article about how consistency isn’t the end all be all for content creators. The truth lies somewhere in between, because I had to learn to be consistent in order to do that. But a lot of life is about who is the last man standing. This is why stoicism seems so appealing. We know this inherently. Be the last man standing whenever you can.
Thanks for paying attention.
