The universal formula for success

@techlorde

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Why it worked

The video effectively uses relatable examples like Spotify and Disney to illustrate the abstract concept of power laws, making it easy for viewers to grasp the principle and its implications for their own endeavors. The clear explanation and the 'takeaway' advice provide actionable insights.

Summary

The video explains the concept of power laws and how they apply to success, stating that a small percentage of efforts or creations yield the majority of results. It uses examples like Spotify's song streams and Disney's movie strategy to illustrate that focusing on a few high-impact endeavors is more effective than spreading effort thinly.

Structure

1Introduction to the universal formula for success and the power law.
2Examples of power laws in action (TikTok, music, startups, Spotify, Disney).
3Explanation of the Pareto principle (80/20 rule).
4Application of power laws to venture capitalism.
5The takeaway: stop being average and focus effort for outsized reward.

Product placement

Spotify: a music streaming service where 1% of songs get 90% of the streams. It merely appears as an example, and removing it would not change the video's core message. The video is not about Spotify itself, but rather the concept of power laws and success distribution. The images of The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, and Ariana Grande are used as examples of artists who achieve significant success, but they are not the product being promoted. They merely appear as visual aids.

On-screen text

The universal formula for success Outcome Effort Significant wins Insignificant wins There's an unwritten law of the universe that guides almost everything in the world. What TikToks go viral, what songs go viral, what startups become billion dollar companies. And the people who understand this rule end up becoming the people that are the most successful. And it all just boils down to pure mathematics. 99% of everything you ever create will amount to absolutely nothing. Your post, your ideas, your creations. Almost all of it will disappear. But just think about this with Spotify 1% of all songs get 90% of the streams on Spotify. Think about how many songs are on Spotify. There's hundreds of millions. And 90,000 songs get uploaded every single day. But the median song only has 30 plays ever. This is called the power law. And power laws dictate almost every system that we live under. The thing is, a lot of people believe the world is linear. You work twice as hard, you get twice the amount of results. That's not true. Think about if you're growing a social media following. Most of your followers come from one singular post. If you think about Disney, they don't make a bunch of medium budget films. They make five massive movies with the belief that at least a couple of them are gonna be huge in the box office. This is all derived from the Pareto distribution, where 80% of Your effort gets 20% of your results and 20% of your effort derives 80% of your results. This is also how venture capitalists operate. If you think about how they invest in tons and tons of companies, they have that belief that at least one is gonna become that billion dollar unicorn and make up for all of their investments. I would rather invest in a company with a 2% chance of becoming a 10 billion dollar company $200 million expected value vs. $8.5 million 🥺 with an 85% chance of just becoming a 10 million dollar company. Because that outsize bet produces exponentially higher outsized REWARD******** (risk also lol) So the takeaway advice is to stop being average. If you have good ideas, whether that's for a song or a post or a piece of writing or a company. You need to put almost all of your creative energy into it because the power law dictates that it will have outsized reward. Putting linear same effort into something daily will get you the same results every single day. When you take that one bet, when you meet that one person, when you create that one thing, math literally dictates that it will change your life. Bye bye.

Original caption

This is exactly the advice you need to hear #success #math #viral #life (creds to @zodchiii on twitter)

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Transcript

mathematics guarantees that the more you do, the more successful you will be. There's an unwritten law of the universe that guides almost everything in the world. What TikToks go viral, what songs go viral, what startups become billion dollar companies. And the people who understand this rule end up becoming the people that are the most successful. And it all just boils down to pure mathematics. 99% of everything you ever create will amount to absolutely nothing. Your post, your ideas, your creations. Almost all of it will disappear. But just think about this with Spotify. 1% of all songs get 90% of the streams on Spotify. Think about how many songs are on Spotify. There's hundreds of millions. And 90,000 songs get uploaded every single day. But the median song only has 30 plays ever. This is called the power law. And power laws dictate almost every system that we live under. The thing is, a lot of people believe the world is linear. You work twice as hard, you get twice the amount of results. That's not true. Think about if you're growing a social media following. Most of your followers come from one singular post. If you think about Disney, they don't make a bunch of medium budget films. They make five massive movies with the belief that at least a couple of them are gonna be huge in the box office. This is all derived from the Pareto distribution, where 80% of Your effort gets 20% of your results and 20% of your effort derives 80% of your results. This is also how venture capitalists operate. If you think about how they invest in tons and tons of companies, they have that belief that at least one is gonna become that billion dollar unicorn and make up for all of their investments. I would rather invest in a company with a 2% chance of becoming a 10 billion dollar company $200 million expected value vs. $8.5 million 🥺 with an 85% chance of just becoming a 10 million dollar company. Because that outsize bet produces exponentially higher outsized REWARD******** (risk also lol). So the takeaway advice is to stop being average. If you have good ideas, whether that's for a song or a post or a piece of writing or a company. You need to put almost all of your creative energy into it because the power law dictates that it will have outsized reward. Putting linear same effort into something daily will get you the same results every single day. When you take that one bet, when you meet that one person, when you create that one thing, math literally dictates that it will change your life. Bye bye.