Why It's So Hard To Succeed - The Survivorship Bias (animated)

The survivorship bias is the logical error, concentrating on the people who made it or "survived" and overlooking those who did not.

There's a common misconception floating around the internet: You should focus on the successful if you wish to become successful yourself.

You have probably seen these types of articles before.
Like, "5 surprising habits all successful people have". Or, "4 things ultra successful people do differently". The logic is simple: if it helped them get success, it should help you as well, right?

Well not quite. When you factor in the survivorship bias, you notice that we're only focusing on the people that made it, aka survivors.
We're forgetting all the men and women, that have been applying those "5 surprising habits of the successful people", but are not successful.

So while their advice might work for some, it has to be noted that it won't work for everyone.

We don't even consider that there are probably other elements at play here, one for example: pure luck. Like being at the right place at the right time or having connections with key people. Those are just some factors that are often disregarded.

Images © Piers Baker www.svgdoodlewhiteboard.com

#success #cognitivebias