The 10% Rule: The Power of Choosing the Right Room
Just another conversation with my dad.
We were in the car, and he said something I’d heard a hundred times before.
“If you gather 100 worker ants, 10 of them will do all the work. The other 90 will start slacking off. Take those 10 high performers, build a new group of 100, and again, only 10 will truly pull the weight.”
The 10 percent.
They always exist. In every system. In every setting. In every room.
Working hard is basic. Having skills is expected.
But if I want to become exceptional, I can’t just do more of the same.
I need to place myself in an environment where even my best effort feels small —
where the bar is higher, the pace is faster, and the people around me force me to level up.
Because real growth doesn’t come from comfort.
It comes from pressure.
From surviving among the best, and becoming the 10 percent within the 10 percent.
That’s the mindset my dad handed down to me.
It’s simple, but not easy.
So I’ve stopped asking myself what I want to do, or how I want to do it.
The better questions are:
Where should I place myself? Who should I place myself next to?
If I want to stretch my thinking, sharpen my instincts, and build something that lasts,
I need to be around people who challenge me — not flatter me.
People who are smarter, faster, stronger.
I want to struggle to keep up, and then rise again.
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