# Chapter 36

Training and learning and failing and trying again are the standard suffering package of those who are succeeding. We could call this SSP instead of SOP (standard operating procedures). No one becomes great at anything without the SSP. I am in a particularly difficult SSP at the moment. I judge the intensity of an SSP by how threatening it feels, you can use a different metric if it suites your purposes, but this one works pretty well for me and I find it to be quite accurate. If you desire to do something great or simply to be great at any one thing, then SSP is the route that 99.9% of us go through to get there. The other 0.1% just get by with their talent and opportunity and their lives appear effortless, but I would not know for certain since I am clearly in the 99.9%.

But this bears mentioning because the books I read and the articles I curate and the bulk of the information out there is usually about the 0.1%. I have noticed in the last decade that even in generic novels MC’s are often these highly talented lucky individuals who happened upon the perfect work opportunity and are effortlessly supporting themselves and many even become wealthy. They are also highly muscled without ever working out, and thin in spite of eating and drinking copious amounts, not to mention good looking and did I mention highly talented?

The point being here, that the 0.1% belong only in fictional novels, and that the 99.9% of us are SSP candidates if we want to do something important, change the world, or become exceptional in an area of expertise. Don’t confuse your life with a fictional novel. You only get this one ride, no edits permitted.