If you want to be better than 99% of the people in a field you have to have a contradictory belief compared to the rest of the world. You must believe that something is true when the majority of people think the opposite. For example, the people who made their fortune in Bitcoin were the ones who believed long before anyone else that cryptocurrencies had value. In 2008, when Bitcoin began, few people were willing to put their money into virtual currencies. Only those who had this contradictory belief made a fortune. Having a contradictory belief gives you the advantage of being able to accumulate experience and expertise before anyone else and thus become the best in the field. Those who started a YouTube channel in 2012 thinking they could make a living from it a few years later held a contradictory belief that later proved to be true. In doing so, they managed to share the biggest piece of the pie and became leading YouTubers.
Being Right About The Idea
The second important condition is to be right about this contradictory idea. The majority is often right, that’s why having a contradictory idea is risky and in most cases you are wrong. We can say that in 99% of the cases, 99% of the population is right. In only 1% of the cases the majority is wrong, the problem is to identify these contradictory and right beliefs before anyone else. This is the difficulty. It is not enough to have a contradictory belief, it must be right. You can decide to believe that the earth is flat and base your life on that paradigm, but you will run into reality.
Be Persistent And Realize This Idea
It’s not enough to have a contradictory idea and be right, you have to work hard to make it happen. You’ve probably heard someone say they had the idea to do something before it became a trend. Someone has probably told you they had the idea for Airbnb or Uber before those platforms existed. It’s not about having beliefs, it’s about embodying them through action and your lifestyle. You have to take the risk to live in coherence with these beliefs.
Embodying Your Ideas: Playing With Your Skin
To win big, you have to risk big. If you wanted to be a billionaire with bitcoin, you had to sell your house in 2009 and invest everything in the cryptocurrency. Of course, by doing that, you also risk losing everything and being left homeless. That’s the price you pay for being in the 1%. If you listen to an interview with Elon Musk, he will tell you that he almost went bankrupt several times before Tesla became the success it is today.
Additional Idea To Materialize Your Contradictory Belief
Macro Speed – Macro Patience
When we start a business, we are usually obsessed with spectacular short-term results. Our attention is directed to what is microscopic – micro – (the short term) as opposed to what is macroscopic – macro – (the long term). Yet, what matters most is to be successful over a long enough time scale and not just the days and weeks ahead.
Readjusting Our Time Slider
To win at the game of entrepreneurship, we must learn to be aggressively patient, i.e., to make every effort to succeed, while having the patience to wait a very long time before achieving significant results.
The Boat And The Course
A slow-moving boat that never changes course will always get to the best place than a fast-moving boat that constantly changes course. Macro speed is more important than micro speed.
The Importance Of Accumulating Failures
One thing that is necessary is to start even if you fail. A failure when you undertake something is a war wound – some would say a medal – it strengthens your leather, makes you more experienced and perceptive to undertake again. If you have a strong contradictory belief, put it to the test of reality. The sooner you fail, the better for you. You will validate or not your idea, you will confront it with reality, you will “thicken your leather” and become stronger to face the challenges of entrepreneurship.
