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...is through the door.
Our milieu in internet marketing largely is comprised of the children of baby boomers. Our cohort was taught to be overly optimistic, so much so as to border on the realm of magical thinking.
That's the message that got across. Times were good, money was booming relatively for everyone in the post-war economy (forgive me, international readers for the US-centric introduction). Opportunity was abundant for our parents and they seized it.
Which is why they forgot about the full breadth of that quote, which should read:
This is your Gaussian Distribution, showing standard deviations above and below the average and the probability of an event or characteristic lying within a certain range.
These optimist-magicians believe wholeheartedly that they will belong to the +2σ or +3σ category, generally because someone told them they could have whatever they wanted, and personally because we typically want what we know we can't have.
Nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news, but the kid in the wheelchair isn't going to grow up to be a world-class 100m hurdle gold medalist. If your goal is entirely or ridiculously improbable, then it's likely more a classic case of Freudian Reaction Formation.
It also keeps us from having to go after scary things that have a real probability of happening. Like becoming filthy rich but having to work super hard at it for a decade. Yes, I'm saying that 99% of people would rather completely fail at life than shoulder the burden of succeeding. That's why people choose ridiculous goals. They know they're sabotaging themselves right out of the gates.
How do we deal with that?
Yep, I included a cheesy quote picture. Deal with THAT.
Notice it says to shoot for the moon (something we've achieved and know is possible). It doesn't say shoot for Quasar X2-β, Sector 7 of the Intergalactic Free-Zone for Trans-Dimensional Travelers.
So... we're going for something reality-based that's improbable.
There's no way in hell you're going to jump from -2σ to +3σ in one leap, although that might be distance we intend to climb. This is what lottery-ticket buyers are trying to do.
The chances of winning the Powerball is about 1 in 292,201,338. That's for the current $203 million lottery winnings. You can DRASTICALLY improve your chances by doubling down and buying two tickets, which brings you to 1 in 146,100,699. You've astronomically changed your odds for something that's still astronomically improbable and unlikely to every occur.
But for our goal isn't to win $200 million. It's to EARN $200 million, which is quite probable. It's happening constantly. And all you really need to do to leap from -2σ to -1σ is to start. You've already cut out the 80% of people who never try and the 10% who have intentions of one day starting somehow in some direction maybe.
And that's the second step to achieving the improbable.
Let's say your ultimate goal is to gain 25 more clients, each with a monthly retainer of $10,000, within 1 month. The probability of this event occuring? Let's say it's 5%.
Here's what most people think:
For instance...
Chances of ranking for 1,000,000 worth of volume on Google with one article? Good luck. Chances of ranking for 1,000,000 worth of volume across 500 posts with increasingly better on-page that you use to revisit and improve the old posts while performing steady link-building campaigns and social media promotions? Good luck to everyone else who USED to rank!
This is how you should feel as you go through this process. You are literally re-arranging reality to suit your needs. You're changing probability to respond in your favor. You slapped 5% in the mouth, broke it down to it's components, conquered each in order, and turned it into 100% probability.
Then, the guy who quit while looking 5% straight in the face and gave up says:
Yes, as a matter of fact, you are. You used your mind to manipulate the events of the universe.
There's only one problem...
Regardless of what the Moody Blues and million others who covered this song had to say, Time is NOT on your side:
This is a particular problem of mine, I'll admit. My father was a grinder as was his father before him. I'm the type of person who could become a billionaire one penny at a time... given enough time. But there's not enough time. Time is not on our side. The clock is always ticking.
But even with taking advantage of these tactics and offloading your time-needs to other people and machines, there's still not enough time to really play hardball... unless...
Call it what you want... Pareto Principle, Pumpkin Hacking, Fourth Quadrant. The concept is the same. Probability works on vast scales, and when it comes to humans and human interaction, we can make another observation based on these vast scales:
You don't necessarily want to start here. This isn't the move to make when you're jumping from -1σ to 0 then to +1σ. You're laying the foundations at that point to springboard off of. But when you're bouncing on that diving board and ready to take the leap, you've got your ducks in a row and practiced enough that your'e ready for the triple back somersault.
You don't move from +2σ to +3σ (or even an outlandish +4σ) without CHALLENGING REALITY. When you hit this level, right before you meet your ultimate goal and get ready to establish new goals... you're playing on the fringes. You're a 1%er or even a 0.1%er. You're changing the world, and doing the impossible (or so it was thought by mere mortals).
That's hardball. And you can play hardball on your way up to the plate for that final swing...
Let's face it. If the meteor to end Earth is coming and you're going to knock that bitch out of the park, you only get one swing. You better be practicing long before that day comes.... not just practicing swinging the bat, but swinging that one special swing.
Once you're past your foundation stage at 0 to +1σ, it's time to start ignoring normal stuff. It's time to ignore 80% of your typical activities. Those were fundamental in getting you to where you are and capable of making this leap. You couldn't have gotten here without making the 1,500 phone calls.
Now it's time to call the 20% of possible clients that are known to be difficult to obtain but would amount to 80% of your revenue. And while you're at it, you're going to demand they have a monthly spend of $100k per month with you. And they have to sign a contract promising a 2 year commitment. You're going to challenge reality.
The beauty is, once you're at this point, you're back to the basics. You're going to repeat these actions at high volume while building relations surrounding them to increase the probability of them occurring. You have more time to do it because there's less to do. You've hacked the matrix and pinpointed the variables that REALLY matter.
Your personal job is to hang out in the 4th Quadrant of Low Effort and High Reward.
Don't get me wrong. For everyone who hasn't done all of the work you've already done, that's extremly high effort with no reward. But you've practiced your swing. You also have systems in place where your employees and automatons are working in the other 3 Quadrants. I hate to even say his name at this point because it's so cliché, but now you're in Elon Musk territory.
Elon Musk is aiming at the Moon. His literal goal is to die on Mars.
THAT'S A BIG WALL.
But you don't teleport to Mars. And you don't walk through walls... You put one foot in front of the other, starting with the path of least resistance. You walk through the door. And the next door. Then you find you have to start opening doors, then picking locks, then you build a battering ram.
And eventually that last wall comes falling down. The probability of standing where you are now was 0.00001%. Yet the probability that you're standing there right now is 100%.
It's interesting how that works...
Our milieu in internet marketing largely is comprised of the children of baby boomers. Our cohort was taught to be overly optimistic, so much so as to border on the realm of magical thinking.
"You can be whatever you want to be, if you just believe it..."
That's the message that got across. Times were good, money was booming relatively for everyone in the post-war economy (forgive me, international readers for the US-centric introduction). Opportunity was abundant for our parents and they seized it.
Which is why they forgot about the full breadth of that quote, which should read:
"You can be whatever you want to be, if you just believe it and it's within the realm of actual possibility and you work hard to achieve it."
You knew these kids growing up:
- The kid who was as blind as a bat who believed he'd become an Air Force pilot.
- The 5'4" klutz who was going to be an NBA forward for the Bulls.
- The flunky stoner who believed it would all just work itself out in the end.
These optimist-magicians believe wholeheartedly that they will belong to the +2σ or +3σ category, generally because someone told them they could have whatever they wanted, and personally because we typically want what we know we can't have.
How's that for ruining your life trajectory from day one?
The first way to achieve the improbable is to make sure it's POSSIBLE.
Nobody wants to be the bearer of bad news, but the kid in the wheelchair isn't going to grow up to be a world-class 100m hurdle gold medalist. If your goal is entirely or ridiculously improbable, then it's likely more a classic case of Freudian Reaction Formation.
"reaction formation is a defensive mechanism in which emotions and impulses which are anxiety-producing or perceived to be unacceptable are mastered by exaggeration of the directly opposing tendency."
In layman's terms, we tend to go after what we know we can't achieve so we can gain the secondary benefit of turning back to the world and saying "I TOLD YOU IT COULDN'T HAPPEN."
It also keeps us from having to go after scary things that have a real probability of happening. Like becoming filthy rich but having to work super hard at it for a decade. Yes, I'm saying that 99% of people would rather completely fail at life than shoulder the burden of succeeding. That's why people choose ridiculous goals. They know they're sabotaging themselves right out of the gates.
• Make sure you're physically and psychologically capable of achieving a goal that can actually manifest in actual reality.
............................
Okay, so we've established our goal is possible, realistic, and not a defense mechanism, yet it is still quite improbable, which is why it's so valuable.How do we deal with that?
Yep, I included a cheesy quote picture. Deal with THAT.
Notice it says to shoot for the moon (something we've achieved and know is possible). It doesn't say shoot for Quasar X2-β, Sector 7 of the Intergalactic Free-Zone for Trans-Dimensional Travelers.
So... we're going for something reality-based that's improbable.
There's no way in hell you're going to jump from -2σ to +3σ in one leap, although that might be distance we intend to climb. This is what lottery-ticket buyers are trying to do.
Instead, we have enough sense to FIRST try to move from -2σ to -1σ.
The chances of winning the Powerball is about 1 in 292,201,338. That's for the current $203 million lottery winnings. You can DRASTICALLY improve your chances by doubling down and buying two tickets, which brings you to 1 in 146,100,699. You've astronomically changed your odds for something that's still astronomically improbable and unlikely to every occur.
That's it. For the Powerball, all you can do is one single act to move closer to the goal, and every iteration of it leaves you light-years away still (and further sabotages the goal because you're giving away money instead of investing).
But for our goal isn't to win $200 million. It's to EARN $200 million, which is quite probable. It's happening constantly. And all you really need to do to leap from -2σ to -1σ is to start. You've already cut out the 80% of people who never try and the 10% who have intentions of one day starting somehow in some direction maybe.
And that's the second step to achieving the improbable.
The second way of achieving the improbable is to Manage Probability.
Disclaimer: As always, I'm making up numbers for the sake of the example, you hole-pokers.
Let's say your ultimate goal is to gain 25 more clients, each with a monthly retainer of $10,000, within 1 month. The probability of this event occuring? Let's say it's 5%.
Here's what most people think:
"Well, 5% is pretty low. I could waste an entire month of work on this goal and not only NOT achieve it but there's the opportunity-cost where I could have been doing something else to improve my bottom line."
So much negativity and naivety. What we're going to do is Manage, Manipulate, Affect, Coerce... we're going to mold reality to our liking. 5% is 5% at the start. The likelihood of that event occurring is entirely dependent upon a string of events occuring that you have full control over.
For instance...
- The probability of picking up the phone: 100%
- The probability of saying "Hello, may I speak to X": 100%
- The probability of doing this 50 times per day for 30 days straight: 100%
- The probability of you learning how to get past gatekeeper secretaries: 100%
- The probability of you figuring out what language converts based on the tone of the person you talk to: 100%
Chances of ranking for 1,000,000 worth of volume on Google with one article? Good luck. Chances of ranking for 1,000,000 worth of volume across 500 posts with increasingly better on-page that you use to revisit and improve the old posts while performing steady link-building campaigns and social media promotions? Good luck to everyone else who USED to rank!
Then, the guy who quit while looking 5% straight in the face and gave up says:
There's only one problem...
You can't brute-force everything.
Regardless of what the Moody Blues and million others who covered this song had to say, Time is NOT on your side:
Repetition
Sure, repeating an activity can improve your odds from 1 in 100,000 to 2 in 100,000 to 3 in... We should definitely employ repetition in our journey.... through outsourcing and automation (not with our own time).
Volume
Yeah, flank the enemy from every side. 100 bullets are better than 1 bullet. The chances of hitting your target with 1 round is a lot lower than spraying buckshot.
Relation
Especially deal with relational matters and their consequences. This is where people screw themselves. Step 1 comes before Step 2... up to Step 68. By the time you hit the last step, the probability has risen from 5% to 100%.
Sure, repeating an activity can improve your odds from 1 in 100,000 to 2 in 100,000 to 3 in... We should definitely employ repetition in our journey.... through outsourcing and automation (not with our own time).
Volume
Yeah, flank the enemy from every side. 100 bullets are better than 1 bullet. The chances of hitting your target with 1 round is a lot lower than spraying buckshot.
Relation
Especially deal with relational matters and their consequences. This is where people screw themselves. Step 1 comes before Step 2... up to Step 68. By the time you hit the last step, the probability has risen from 5% to 100%.
But even with taking advantage of these tactics and offloading your time-needs to other people and machines, there's still not enough time to really play hardball... unless...
The third way of achieving the improbable is to work in the Fourth Quadrant.
We're trying to take time out of the equation here.
80% of the desired outcome results from 20% of the input.
You don't necessarily want to start here. This isn't the move to make when you're jumping from -1σ to 0 then to +1σ. You're laying the foundations at that point to springboard off of. But when you're bouncing on that diving board and ready to take the leap, you've got your ducks in a row and practiced enough that your'e ready for the triple back somersault.
You don't move from +2σ to +3σ (or even an outlandish +4σ) without CHALLENGING REALITY. When you hit this level, right before you meet your ultimate goal and get ready to establish new goals... you're playing on the fringes. You're a 1%er or even a 0.1%er. You're changing the world, and doing the impossible (or so it was thought by mere mortals).
That's hardball. And you can play hardball on your way up to the plate for that final swing...
And when you're swinging that hard at ordinary things, they come crashing down real easy.
Once you're past your foundation stage at 0 to +1σ, it's time to start ignoring normal stuff. It's time to ignore 80% of your typical activities. Those were fundamental in getting you to where you are and capable of making this leap. You couldn't have gotten here without making the 1,500 phone calls.
Now it's time to call the 20% of possible clients that are known to be difficult to obtain but would amount to 80% of your revenue. And while you're at it, you're going to demand they have a monthly spend of $100k per month with you. And they have to sign a contract promising a 2 year commitment. You're going to challenge reality.
There's no end to the nested levels of 80/20 you can go. You can find the 20% of the activities within the 20% of activities...
The beauty is, once you're at this point, you're back to the basics. You're going to repeat these actions at high volume while building relations surrounding them to increase the probability of them occurring. You have more time to do it because there's less to do. You've hacked the matrix and pinpointed the variables that REALLY matter.
Your personal job is to hang out in the 4th Quadrant of Low Effort and High Reward.
Don't get me wrong. For everyone who hasn't done all of the work you've already done, that's extremly high effort with no reward. But you've practiced your swing. You also have systems in place where your employees and automatons are working in the other 3 Quadrants. I hate to even say his name at this point because it's so cliché, but now you're in Elon Musk territory.
THAT'S A BIG WALL.
But you don't teleport to Mars. And you don't walk through walls... You put one foot in front of the other, starting with the path of least resistance. You walk through the door. And the next door. Then you find you have to start opening doors, then picking locks, then you build a battering ram.
And eventually that last wall comes falling down. The probability of standing where you are now was 0.00001%. Yet the probability that you're standing there right now is 100%.
It's interesting how that works...
