Thread by @sweatystartup

I'm convinced a lot of my success in life can be attributed to taking the path of least resistance.

I got a lot of advice like "do what you love, log 10,000 hrs, become an expert".

Horrible advice.

Instead, look at every decision like this:

What are my odds of success?

How successful is the person in the 50th percentile?

Pretty darn successful? Decent work / life balance if you do it right? Good opportunities from there?

Lets do it.

Unknown, broke, hoping for a big break? Or rich but throwing down 80 hrs a week and divorced?

No thanks.

The ability to put down the ego and realize I might not be in the top 5% of this field. Ever.

The ability to make unemotional decisions driven by logic and rational thinking vs dreams and desires and selfishness.

And being okay with not changing the world on day one...

And no. Its not about finding the next revolutionary idea and having a monopoly. "The Blue Ocean Theory".

Thats bulls**t. Its a lottery ticket.

Find something where a lot of dumb people are really successful.

Fish where the fish are. Even if there are lots of fisherman.

For me I had to pick between basketball and track to try to get a college scholarship.

Everybody wanted to go to the NBA. That was out.

Nobody wanted to do the decathlon. I did it, got a scholarship, was a D1 All-American, Olympic Trial qualifier as an average athlete.

Then out of school it was tech startup or sweaty startup.

My brilliant buddies with rich families were going for the tech stuff. That was out.

I started a service business lugging boxes around campus in a $1500 cargo van and before long was earning $250k a year.

Then it was time to do the next big thing.

We saw a lot of folks who spent nothing on marketing and didn't use computers making millions in the storage business.

So we built our first building and never looked back.