Work Harder? That's cute.
Work + Work + Work + Work = Nothing to show for it
Work + Work + Work + Work = Nothing to show for it.
Again.
Just like last week.
And the week before that.
And the year before that.
It’s not that you’re lazy.
You’re working harder than most.
But deep down, you’re starting to suspect that effort alone isn’t the answer.
And you’re right.
❌ The Linear Work Trap
You were sold the idea that success is linear:
Work hard → Climb the ladder → Reap the rewards
But this model is outdated. It comes from the Industrial Age, where more hours meant more widgets, more widgets meant more money.
We’re now in the Leverage Age.
And in the Leverage Age, working harder only leads to burn out.
🔁 The Power Law of Success
This is the first mental model you need to internalize:
Effort ≠ Outcome
Inputs do not equal outputs.
According to a study by the Kauffman Foundation, less than 0.1% of startups create 80% of all value. That’s a power curve.
This is true in every domain:
Content: 1% of creators get 99% of the views
Startups: 1% of ideas attract 99% of VC funding
Music: 1% of songs generate 99% of royalties
You don’t succeed by grinding.
You succeed by aligning with the power curve.
🧠 Connect the Dots with Specific Knowledge
“The future belongs to those who can connect the dots before the rest of the world.” — Gary Hamel
This is what Naval Ravikant calls specific knowledge. Insights you gain by being uniquely positioned. It’s non-transferable and compounds over time.
Example:
Pieter Levels built NomadList in a weekend, not because he worked harder, but because he connected travel trends + remote work + community data. He saw it first.
Mental Model: Lateral Thinking: Solving problems using indirect and creative reasoning.
🧐 Understand Human Psychology
“All big money is made by understanding how people behave.” — Charlie Munger
Human nature hasn’t changed in 100,000 years.
Understand desires, fears, and biases and you win.
Example:
Basecamp never chased flashy features. They built for calm, not growth. They understood their customers didn’t want complexity, they wanted clarity.
Mental Model: First Principles + Behavioral Economics: Know why people do what they do.
⏰ Proper Timing (Temporal Arbitrage)
“Being early is the same as being wrong, unless you stay long enough.” — Marc Andreessen
Most people miss the wave or drown in it.
Example:
Brian Chesky tried to pitch Airbnb dozens of times and nobody cared. Until the 2008 crash hit and everyone suddenly wanted to make extra money from their spare room.
He timed the behavior shift, not just the tech.
Mental Model: S-Curves of Adoption: Where you are on the curve matters more than your credentials.
🍀 Luck (But Not the Random Kind)
“You can become luckier through exposure.” — Sahil Bloom
Yes, luck matters. But not the “buy a lottery ticket” kind.
The kind that comes from:
Showing up daily
Publishing your ideas
Being in the right rooms
Building relationships
Giving more than you take
Example:
Alex Hormozi went from gym owner to $100M portfolio by publicly documenting the journey and attracting luck in the form of partnerships and deals.
Mental Model: Luck Surface Area: Increase your interactions + insight = more luck.
🔁 The Compounding Curve of Success
Here’s the most freeing idea of all:
Success is not a slope, it’s a curve.
It looks like nothing, then everything.
It feels like grinding for years with zero results.
And then suddenly, a floodgate opens.
You connect one dot.
You make one insight.
You meet one person.
You get one break.
And suddenly you’re not 1 step ahead, you’re 1,000.
Case Study:
James Clear wrote two blog posts a week for two years with little attention. One article went viral → landed a book deal → Atomic Habits sold over 15 million copies.
His blog wasn’t the product. It was the exposure engine.
The Real Equation:
Connecting the Dots + Psychology + Timing + Luck = 💰💰💰
If you’re feeling burnt out, stuck, or invisible, it’s not because you’re not working hard.
It’s because you're applying linear effort in an exponential game.
This is the truth most course sellers won’t tell you.
Because "just work harder" is easier to sell than "become uniquely insightful and patiently lucky."
But if you're still here reading this?
You're ahead.
Now go build leverage.
