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Abandon the Idea of Merit
The meritocracy was only ever imagined.
If success is measured in social terms (followers, sales, clientele, etc.), disregard thoughts of merit. From politicians and pediatricians to poets and painters — any and all who have to sell themselves, a good, or a service — remember that you are deserving of nothing. The truth is that the admirability of your work ethic and the quality of your product will not be the chief determinants of your success. An adequate product is the starting line. Once you have this, you have something to sell. Thereafter, it’s all marketing.
Really successful writers aren’t successful cause they write well: the blog-o-sphere is teeming with impressively well-formed sentences, compelling stories, and fascinating insights. Really successful writers (on Medium) are successful because they highlight a sentence or two in less successful writer’s articles twenty times a day — prompting those other writers to in turn go look at their writing. Really successful writers go on TV and give their opinion on the current social climate. Really successful writers have savvy agents, beautifully curated instagrams, rich friends, and a seemingly endless supply of witty tweets.
The best policymaker doesn’t get elected to hold public office, the best campaigner does. The most erudite money manager doesn’t land the…
