This applies in so many places, i spent time as a Mortgage Banker at an organization that ranked every single Banker at all branches across 3 states in an email that went out company-wide on a regular interval and was CC'd to LeBron James's boss, technically. It legit came down to at bats in the willingness to get back on the horse. That wasn't all of it but it was what was going to get you 90% of the way there and that final 10% was skill and talent

You could still be extremely successful on pure grit as long as you just stayed curious and learned from each opportunity. Go in every time without expectations because the pattern last time might not be the pattern next time.

Reminds me of "Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman (See also "Noise - A Flaw in Human Judgment" and "Judgment Under Uncertainty - On Heuristics and Biases"), they detail a study they set up about stock picking skill, and when you really look at it... No skill issue there, it's not a skill issue. It's blind luck. Statistically insignificant distinctions behind any kind of method. He calls it "the illusion of skill."

And it's hilarious because when that article gets published it's usually by someone who's trying to use that information to help you get better at picking stock, it's so hilarious to me! (it's almost like they are leaning on the audacity of the confidence of publishing that and then immediately misapplying it, almost as though they are playing some sort of game with the market, one could say, perhaps, a confidence game?)

Rather than keep that cynical, I think that itself is a lesson, be confident and authentic and ethical and then just go do your thing because no one is paying that much attention to the failures, and if they are paying THAT much attention to the failures, that's typically no one you really want around

(and rarely exactly who you want around but only when accompanied by a specific package deal of other inclinations)

I love this article, thank you for taking the time to write it and share the wisdom that you have gained along the way, I know I don't live in the area of JHS-HQ anymore, but gosh, I miss that storefront from like 15 years ago! It was such a rad little space. It's been awesome to watch you win again and again in the years since!