Success comes when you defy statistics

Success in life comes from defying statistical predictions.

Someone shared a video with me recently called, “You’re not special enough to NOT go to college.” It was about some statistics of average employment rate among those with degrees vs. those without. The message was, “Don’t be an arrogant idiot. Stats show that you need a degree to succeed.”

I can think of few better exercises in faulty reasoning.

The video was posted on Facebook. Did the creator realize that they are not special enough to post a video to Facebook? The overwhelming majority of Facebook videos fail. It was narrated by an actor…does he not realize that statistics prove acting is a terrible profession to pursue? Doesn’t he know how many wannabe actors fail?

You aren’t special enough to play sports, start a business, or have a happy marriage. Statistics. You aren’t special enough to eat healthy foods either. Most who try fail. Statistics.

In fact, everything every successful person has ever done has been in defiance of statistical averages. That’s almost the definition of being good at something.

If one person jumps 5 feet, and another jumps 10 feet, would it be wise to say, “Don’t get any ideas in your head about trying to jump more than 7.5 feet, stats show you won’t”?

If you live your life by averages, you’ve already lost.