{"id":11958,"date":"2020-06-15T10:59:26","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T18:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/?p=11958"},"modified":"2020-07-31T05:32:21","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T13:32:21","slug":"narrow-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2020\/06\/15\/narrow-success\/","title":{"rendered":"The Surprisingly Narrow Path to Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

I just finished the excellent, Good Work if You Can Get It<\/a>, by Jason Brennan. An insider\u2019s account into academia, the book shares what it takes to become a professor, backed by statistics.<\/p>\n

What jumped out at me from the book was how surprisingly narrow the path to becoming a professor at a good school actually is:<\/p>\n

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Of all the people who start a PhD program, about half will graduate. \u2026 [O]nly about 12.8% of all PhD graduates in the United States can ever hope to land a tenure-track job. \u2026 Of the 20% or so people who get a long-term job, around 6% will get a (somewhat) research-focused tenure-track job. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Cal Newport made a similar point in our recent podcast conversation<\/a> about his path to becoming an author:<\/p>\n

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Let\u2019s say you want to write non-fiction. There are a few things to know:<\/p>\n

1. You don\u2019t write the book first.<\/strong> \u2026 That already goes against most people’s understanding. \u2026<\/p>\n

2. You have to have the agent first.<\/strong> People don\u2019t like that. … But it\u2019s easier to get an agent than to get a book deal, so if you can\u2019t get an agent there\u2019s probably a problem there.<\/p>\n

3. For a first-time author, it has to be a topic that a lot of people are going to buy and you have to be the right person to write that book.<\/strong> \u2026<\/p>\n

When I got that information, I realized that the only way I could get into the publishing industry at the age of twenty was, \u201cWhat if I write a book for college kids?\u201d There\u2019s a big market. \u2026 There\u2019s a pitch to be made that these books should be written by someone who is in college, and I was a good student at a good school.<\/p>\n

It was this very narrow lane. One of the very few lanes I could have possibly gotten a book deal in.<\/p>\n

[emphasis added]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Narrow paths to success aren\u2019t limited to authors and academics, however. Legendary investor and entrepreneur Paul Graham argues the same<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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What Creates a Narrow Path for Success?<\/h2>\n
\nListen to this article<\/small>
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