Because making more difficult choices is often required, most people are better suited to first putting in the effort.
Effort requires increasing quantity first. Many people get stuck at the stage where they can't even increase their efforts, yet they hope to gain without hard work. This mindset of aiming high but being inept often leads to fantasies of shortcuts and freebies, not realizing that these are the most costly (in terms of time and opportunity costs).
Blind effort is, to some extent, a form of slavery. Although one may increase their quantity, it is like running blindly without gaining momentum for takeoff. This kind of effort is merely brute force. In Chinese, the character "努" (to strive) has a connotation of "苦" (bitterness), since it is derived from the character "奴" (slave). We have known from a young age that "A young idler, an old beggar." In the Chinese societal context, the value judgment on "success" and "bringing glory to the family" is overly simplistic, leading many to blindly become slaves to grades, employment, and money throughout their lives.
Effective effort is about striving for better choices, becoming a better self, and discovering self-worth and life meaning in the process of effort. I often tell my team not to work hard, but to work smart. Characteristics of working smart include:
- Maximizing one's strengths. For example, if you are good at communication and finding collaborative opportunities, don't sit at home writing reports.
- Preventing weaknesses from becoming development bottlenecks. For instance, if poor English is limiting your development, then work on improving it immediately.
- Excelling within a limited scope first. Excelling in your field builds your social capital, which you can leverage to seize larger opportunities (leverage your social capital to gain more working capital).
I often tell founders: intellectual capital and social capital lead to human capital and financial capital. Founders accumulate intellectual and social capital through constant trial and error to find leverage points for greater opportunities, which is also applicable to individuals.
Accessing greater opportunities requires scarce information (asymmetric info) and unique insights (contrarian thinking), rather than knowing some influential person. Obtaining scarce information has its costs—your time and effective effort. Moreover, scarce information is a form of power; I have repeatedly said that power distribution determines the distribution of rights. Throughout human history, small matters are decided in large meetings, while major decisions are made in small ones because absolute scarce information equates to absolute power.
Each generation has its era-specific opportunities (vintage), especially in our rapidly iterating industry where a major reshuffle happens every two years. There's no need for the obsession with big names. Seizing era-specific dividends requires the scarce information and insights gained from effective effort, the ability to assess situations, and the capability for quick decision-making and execution. Being an excellent player of your era often means acting faster than you think and thinking more than you say. First, increase quantity, then discuss quality. Just like building muscle, without quantity, don't expect muscle growth. Quantity (quantity) must come first, then efficacy, and efficacy leads to quality (quality).
Enhance your cognitive and practical abilities to build industry scarcity. Network with peers who can communicate on the same wavelength and fight tough battles with reliable teams. Future leaders will only emerge from among their peers.
Again, we own our own vintage.
