Why It's So Hard To Succeed - The Survivorship Bias (animated)

The survivorship bias is the logical error, concentrating on the people who made it or "survived" and overlooking those who did not.

There's a common misconception floating around the internet: You should focus on the successful if you wish to become successful yourself.

You have probably seen these types of articles before.
Like, "5 surprising habits all successful people have". Or, "4 things ultra successful people do differently". The logic is simple: if it helped them get success, it should help you as well, right?

Well not quite. When you factor in the survivorship bias, you notice that we're only focusing on the people that made it, aka survivors.
We're forgetting all the men and women, that have been applying those "5 surprising habits of the successful people", but are not successful.

So while their advice might work for some, it has to be noted that it won't work for everyone.

We don't even consider that there are probably other elements at play here, one for example: pure luck. Like being at the right place at the right time or having connections with key people. Those are just some factors that are often disregarded.

#success #cognitivebias

[gaillewis]

We all know somebody whose overnight success took ten years.

[Kaleidalee]

For me, this is a relief, rather than discouraging. I took the point of this video as "Don't be so hard on yourself. It's harder than it looks, and it's not always about your ability." The most common way we punish ourselves is by comparing ourselves to celebrities and rich people, aka some of the very few people in the entire world who "have it all", and we're taught to feel inadequate unless we have their measure of "success".

Just find a way to do what you're passionate about, and don't worry about "success". It's a subjective idea anyway.

[remkojerphanion]

In this day and age, we are constantly bombarded with messages saying that you should "live your dream" "you are unique and special" "you can reach any goal" "success is waiting for you" .... the list goes on and on and on. The reality is: 99.9% of people are average at best. Whatever you regard as success in life comes only through hard work. You're better off thinking about yourself as "average Joe", work hard, and most importantly... be happy with what you already have.

[TheGLOBEos]

This is depressing, though its a true concept. Trying to take the best from it.

[ladyalicent]

It’s may not always be COMPLETELY about luck, but in EVERY success story, luck always play a VERY SIGNIFICANT role!

[BAIGAMING]

2:10 It's like how J.K. Rowling secretly published The Cuckoo's Call under another name, and the book died from unpopularity; later on it was revealed she wrote it, and people bought it like crazy. Your book's quality has nothing to do with sales, it's your popularity and it's all about getting your first book through the door and making a name/branding for yourself.

[michaelstephenvargas]

I find this motivating actually, most people are becoming impatient due to their unrealistic expectations (also social media). Learning that this is the natural way of things makes you not quit just to see where it can truly go.

[AR-vuhr]

I would like to introduce Exhibit A. Vincent Van Gogh. One of the most acclaimed artists of modern times and recognised for his genius by his artistic peers and admirers. Yet he was technically a failure in his lifetime, sold only one painting and died penniless. Today, we buy prints of his paintings, produced en masse, and his works are instantly recognisable all over the world. So you you have to wonder what defines success? He had the talent when he was alive. People only became interested in his paintings when they began selling for millions. So what are people really being drawn to here? Talent or the idea of someone acquiring vast amounts of wealth? Why do so many people define success in terms of money (Van Gogh sold only one painting) rather than achievement (Van Gogh produced many incredible pieces of art during his lifetime)?

[taviakim]

Every success in my life had people telling reasons why I could not do it, or/and I was not doing it "right" ? Every success in my life was built on set backs and failures, but yet here I am....content and successful....And even successful, people still say, " No not like that ", but I don't listen.

[jessbragg]

in the army, i heard a great saying " you can learn as much from a BAD leader as you can a GOOD one",
and that always stuck with me, avoid what the BAD leaders did and FOLLOW the GOOD ones advice. awesome video! I love when people hit you with truth bombs, nice job

[AnoNymous-dhsv]

An interesting thing is that while most successful people are also delusional to this and they appear to gloat that their ability is somewhat superhuman, when in reality they may had a rich mommy or random luck, some successful people are IGNORED when they try to tell you it's not easy at all but people are often not interested in hearing how hard it is because they want it easy.

[bunnychop]

It all depends on your definition of success. We can't all be steve jobs but we can make things better.

[skylinefever]

This is why I hate motivational coaches with a burning passion. They make shit up about people who didn't make it big, that somehow they just didn't try enough, or lacked ambition, or whatever.

[mrguy]

"If you find something you love doing and stick to it, while constantly improving, then that will ultimately lead you to the success you seek."


Only if it pays well, and only if you improve faster than you age.

[jaylenlenear]

I've always thought about this. It's frustrating how many successful people discredit how big circumstances, & support(in some cases genetics too) along the way play a role in "their success" I'm not discouraged tho I realize I do have luck and some favorable circumstances on my side because on the flip side I believe a lot of failures didn't really utilize certain things in their favor. Work smarter not harder guys

[luisoncpp]

In the things were I have been successful myself I had seen very clearly that most people fail because they are were not committed enough to the hard work and consistency that are required for improving.

[thethmusketeer]

Here’s a starkly obvious yet truly priceless pearl of wisdom for you...

In that video presentation, how do you quantify the people who *supposedly failed* to achieve their desired goal or ambition? Think about it... At what point can we say that somebody has failed at something? Well, for the majority... it’s that they came to the point where they felt that they weren’t getting anywhere, or it was taking too long, or the effort wasn’t worth it... In other words: THEY GAVE UP! It’s not that they actually failed... THEY DECIDED that they weren’t going to make it... that they were a failure, and they gave up trying...

For most people, FAILURE is a self fulfilling prophecy. Of course - you have to have REALISTIC aspirations, based on some innate and valued talent that you possess, or the possibility of your acquiring the skills or expertise that you need to compete in your chosen field... but IF YOU DO HAVE THOSE THINGS and YOU REMAIN DETERMINED TO SUCCEED, then your chances of succeeding are multiplied exponentially, because you will have defeated the greatest barrier to your success, which is: YOUR OWN SELF DOUBT.

Leaving aside the success stories that come about through an abundance of sheer luck, the majority of achievers in life have one thing in common that sets them apart from most of us: THEY BELIEVE IN THEMSELVES to the point that:
1) Rejection doesn’t phase them
2) Obstacles are treated as mere challenges to be overcome, and
3) They don’t allow anything to distract them or deflect them from their chosen goal...

They are SINGLE MINDED and SELF-MOTIVATED and they treat discouragement and defeatism as deceitful voices that they won’t listen to...

One of the most encouraging examples of such a positive outlook I know of, was a salesman who had to make telephone appointments every day in order to meet prospective clients who might buy his company’s products. This salesman knew that he was pretty good at selling, but the hard part was to secure the appointment in the first place, as cold calling customers can result in very rude and offensive responses and people slamming the phone down with a curt, “I’m not fu**ing interested.” The endless negativity of so much rejection is a major cause of people quitting telephone sales work, even though the best sales people can earn very spectacular incomes in the right field...

So how did this particularly driven individual deal with the rejection? Well, his approach was both novel and highly impressive at the time (though it’s been copied since and has become a standard practice in some sales offices...) What he did was to make a diligent record of how many calls he made, how many of those calls secured an appointment, and how many of those appointments resulted in a sale. By doing so, he he worked out an average of how many calls he’d have to make in a day in order to secure each appointment, and how many appointments he’d have to attend in order to secure each sale. With those figures and his own sales targets firmly set in his diary, he started off every morning with the specific intention of making the number of calls that he’d have to make to earn his intended salary goal. So... if he had to make an average of 15 calls to secure one appointment, he brushed off all of the curt responses and rude replies and merely treated them the same way a track athlete views the barriers that are lined up ahead of him in his running lane... they are just hurdles to be vaulted on the way to the finish line that he can see in the distance and has fixed his sights on. This guy was so motivated that no matter how negative each call was, he would put down the receiver, tick that call off and often shout, “Yes!” before dialling the number for his next call. Some of his colleagues thought that his enthusiasm came from securing appointments from those negative calls... No! He was just excited because each negative call brought him one phone call closer to his 15 call batting average that would secure his next sales appointment! 😂 That Guy did not even know the meaning of the word discouragement, let alone failure! And he went on to achieve a very lucrative, successful, and richly deserved sales career.

That SUCCESS FOCUSED MENTALITY, MOTIVATION, and SELF-BELIEF are absolutely central to the careers of people whom we tend to call WINNERS. Anyone who has ever run a street Marathon - especially for charity - will know that no amount of good intentions and wishful thinking will get you across the finish line once your mind tells you that you can’t run any longer. Our bodies can almost always keep going far longer than our motivation can... But once OUR MIND declares that it’s all too difficult, too arduous, or too monotonous... or it says, “I can’t do this any more” - the body dutifully obeys the mind’s prompting and gives up too...

You can’t complete a Marathon if you give up before crossing the finish line. Similarly, you can’t succeed in ANY endeavour, if you give up before you’ve achieved it! Think about it! That simple piece of self-evident logic applies as much to that half-finished DIY project that you’ve left languishing for ages, as it does to your self-declared (LIFELONG GOAL?)🤔 that you’re thinking of giving up on *before your life is over...* 🤷🏻‍♂️

So... What’s the best way to ensure that you achieve what you have a realistic chance of achieving in life? Simple... DON’T GIVE UP until you’ve achieved it!!! 🥇👏😊 🖖😎

[VladTheProfit]

It’s hard to succeed because we are conditioned to think that we cannot be like the wealthy. But to be conditioned in a way means to be learned a belief. If we can learn then we can learn to unlearn.
Unlearning false beliefs and understanding how smart, capable, and great we are is when we realize we have infinite potential.
The world is ours, we just need to believe in ourselves.

[Dileep_Champion]

Though initially it sounds like a discouraging video.... But this is kind of cautionary So that, we can be alert and take rational and logical decisions... Because at times, our strengths may vary from successful people....

[theartoframos]

Man oh man I'm glad I listened till the end cuz I was like "Who cares about the odds! Do what you are passionate, but remember success only comes after much failure, but you just need to keep learning!" Then you came with a more positive note at the end... but I wonder... how many people got discouraged from another person saying they won't statistically make it then stopped the video before it went positive. Yes, maybe statistically they would not have made it anyway because they quite even when a video tells them bad news let alone the real world. I wonder if it would have changed if you started out with the positive first. I'm just being a lil mushy saying everyone deserves a chance and a lil pep talk. I like your stuff though. I subscribed.