I haven’t had a cheesy post for a while, so why not this? Fairly obvious where this idea is from, so no need to give credit. Advice is from a 25-year-old with only very modest achievements, so take from that what you will.
1) If you’re succeeding in most things you do, you’re probably not aiming high enough. Attempt things that you think will almost certainly fail.
I’ve applied for jobs or grants randomly that I thought I had a <1% chance of getting and have either got them or got much further in the hiring process than I expected. On the other hand, sometimes I apply to things that I consider nearly a sure thing and get rejected very quickly. It could just be the case that I’m particularly bad at these sorts of predictions, but I suspect this could be true for a lot of people.
Apply for things that seem like they’d be amazing if you got them even if you think the chance is very low. You could be wrong, and even if you’re not wrong and the chance really is 1%, the expected value could st…
