For background, click this link to read an introduction.
On the public service feed I highlight key phrases. For this post I highlighted “Make sure you’re top 10%…5% otherwise expect more disappointment.”
This post is dense: there is much to say. However, this is the key payload. If you have time to focus on one idea, focus on this one.
An important concept to understand: when a man speaks, his words often carry a valuation framework with it. When I say “valuation framework,” think “hierarchy of values.” What should I care about? Should I care about one thing more than another? What is most important?
A great piece of advice for anyone: “Focus on what matters.” This can break shackles you didn’t know existed. A valuation framework is a map. It guides you to a path. If you overturn it and replace it with a new framework, sometimes you find yourself on a better path.
“Focus on what matters” can get you to prioritize something new.
Let’s make it concrete. Maybe you want a beautiful, kind, reserved girl. Acquiring her is your top value. It’s not working. Somebody says: “Focus on what matters.” You think, “the best way to get a girl is to be so great she can’t take her eyes off of me.” You start to make yourself great.
Suddenly that's a new path. It’s a new valuation framework. Getting Miss Wonderful isn’t at the top. Becoming Mr. Spectacular is at the top. Success isn’t guaranteed, but I think your chances just improved. This is why “Focus on what matters” is great advice.
A charismatic person can impose his valuation structure on others. His energy and ability make others align with his vision of the world. Whatever you think, humans still act like the world is a monarchy. We love kings. We try not to say that too loudly. Maybe we give them a different name. We live in a democracy, after all. All men are created equal. Still, we love kings.
Groups of men align with the valuation framework of a king. The writer of this post is a king. Let’s study the valuation framework that comes with this phrase: “Make sure you’re top 10%…5% otherwise expect more disappointment.”
Here’s my summary of the valuation framework he imposes. Monetary wealth is the highest good and nothing else matters. All of humanity is on a single-axis measuring scale. The metric is net worth. Everyone outside the top 10% is worthless.
Therefore, they should “expect disappointment.” That makes perfect sense under this valuation framework. This is the unstated payload the writer sends in posts over and over again. That valuation framework. Basically he acts as if only a few people matter and the rest can die in a ditch for all he cares.
By dint of his charisma, his devoted admirers accept the same valuation framework. This is a bad valuation framework. Notice I didn’t say it’s “wrong.” A valuation framework is a choice. It’s not a fact. Think of it this way: I’m saying I don’t like his valuation framework.
By definition, it says that 90% of people are not useful. This is a bad axiom if you want to build something great. For example, if you want to go to Mars. Or you want to build a mighty nation. If too many people in your nation feel they don’t have something to bring to the table, it’s harder to scale such heights.
Anybody who ever managed an organization knows this. Some are top performers. Others are less skilled. If half of the less skilled people call in sick, the organization struggles. A Pareto distribution exists on outcomes and abilities. Simultaneously, you will achieve a magnificent group goal only if you understand that the bottom quartiles matter.
Again, a valuation framework is a choice. I don’t think he has a good valuation framework. I can’t deny his skill in imposing that framework on others. A lot of battles are between valuation frameworks and if you can see them you “peer behind the curtain” and understand the world better.
Behind the paywall I’ll analyze individual words.