You will never achieve your goals unless you transform yourself into a person who is capable of achieving them.

The #1 confusion that I hear when people ask me about math, ML/AI, startups, etc., is they think there’s a way to achieve outsized success without putting in an outsized amount of work.

You want to do something that sets you apart? You’re going to have to work harder than most. There is no way around it.

You think you can get good at math by watching YouTube videos?

Develop cutting-edge ML/AI by asking ChatGPT to code it up for you?

Put a dent in the universe working 40 hours per week?

If you think any of those things, then you will never achieve your goals because you will never transform yourself into a person who is capable of achieving them.

And guess what? It’s not enough to simply work hard.

To achieve outsized success, it’s critical to not only put in enough time/effort, but also to work productively.

You have to work hard AND work smart.

And furthermore, work in a direction where you have some competitive advantage (or, at least, you’re not at a disadvantage).

Part of this work involves engaging in activities that maximize the likelihood of you getting some lucky breaks.

You have to work to maximize your luck surface area.