The Struggle of Success
Published April 17, 2023 · 9:19 · 129,357 views
About This Video
Success is 1% inspiration, 49% perspiration, and 50% luck. Van visits hat maker Nick Fouquet in Venice Beach and uses the encounter to dismantle the myth of overnight success. Fouquet's story: the years of invisible struggle that preceded his visible success. Van calls it "the process graph," a visual framework showing that the relationship between effort and recognition is nonlinear, back-loaded, and designed to break people who mistake early difficulty for evidence they are on the wrong path.
The deeper argument is about luck's relationship to persistence. Van does not deny that luck matters. He reframes it as a variable that only activates after a threshold of work has been crossed. Luck plays more of a part in our success than we do, by 1%. But for some players, luck itself is an art.
Transcript
this week's video the one you're watching now will be on YouTube next week's video will be on patreon success is 1%
inspiration 49% perspiration and 50% luck now the perspiration is ours we get credit for the work we get credit for
49% of our success but the inspiration the Breakthrough the idea comes from we know not where and our luck is a
gift which is just to say that luck plays more of a part in our success than we do by 1% but for some
players luck itself is an art [Music] the mayona from Germany German [Music] mayonnaise this spirited man made me a
BLT last week a blta avocado so this week I brought him a new toaster and a toaster shelf his old toaster was
broken this spirited man is Nick fuk and Nick fuk is my newest friend today he made me lunch [Music] again and he also taught me something
about struggle and luck okay so this goes like this this hook goes here and then a wire goes from here to here right what I was going to
say is like these laser levels probably like when I was little probably cost like2 or $3,000 each really probably
when we were 10 this device what year were you born 75 gotcha 83 oh god really I looked that I look so much
older so you want to make like a little hangman like a perfect little hangman's noose it looks be this is so pretty
[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] Nick makes hats and clothes for some of our greatest artists athletes and
Beauties and he makes them here in this beautiful place with these wonderful people and many of us dream of a little
kingdom like this our own little kingdom of something maybe it's hats maybe it's videos but when I see Nick's successful
operation I see the perspiration the inventory the shipping headaches the materials the payroll the equipment the rent I want all the credit
to go to Nick's perspiration to his hard work to his struggle damn it because I romanticize my struggle my ego wants
credit for my success and my ego wants all of the credit [Music] that's blocking 101 so when I sat down with Nick to talk
in his showroom I unconsciously began Mining and fishing for the perspiration part of his success story I pressed Nick to tell me about
the struggle phase of his success the perspiration era of his success I guess want there to be like a what's the struggle part of the story
where was it like White Knuckles and and when I became conscious of my ego's desire for Nick's success to be a
result of his perspiration and his grind and his hard work I stopped listening to my ego and began listening more closely to
Nick and when I listened more closely to Nick I realized that his success stories weren't about struggle they were about luck lucky to
grow up on two continents I hads lucky to be loved by artistic creative sisters lucky to meet the Cowboy from Utah lucky
a decade or so ago to get the basement workshop for a few hundred bucks a month lucky in the beginning to have Billy Gibbons
commission a hat Bob Dylan commission a hat for real commission a hat Nick didn't tell me he busted his ass it just
like fell on me not false modesty this is how he sees it and that's one of the reasons we love him and I say his little
kingdom is what he built with his luck through work and luck so I learned two things from Nick that day what's the struggle part of the
story where was it like White Knuckles and I mean it's always Peaks Peaks along the way at every stage of that process
you know whether it's the beginning or in the middle or you know who knows when the end is or when it's near or whatever
but like there's always like Blood Sweat and Tears the first thing I learned is that perspiration work struggle isn't a
phase perspiration is 49% of each point on the process [Music] graph struggle is a part of the process every
time and so is luck [Music] and the second thing I learned from Nick that day the struggles are so real and
it has a reminder of looking back and being like dude enjoy the ride like cuz I'm going to look back in 5 years and be
like dude it was such a great time I don't know why you were tripping out and I think I think that's like one lesson
that I want to use as like my Mantra moving forward always is just like enjoy the process enjoy the moment
like the second thing I learned that day the good luck the blessings I mean that is this is a real finger burner good as As Good As It gu
the good luck the blessings are to be enjoyed wow look at this like friendship good perfect on this week's patreon only
video I stole this episode from the new covetes by Charles eam but the idea came from a patreon patron these are a few of my favorite things
People Referenced
Nick Fouquet, Billy Gibbons, Bob Dylan, Charles Eames