Every additional step eliminates half the people and drastically reduces success rates

Most people's expectation of the world is that there's a button on Earth: I press it, beep beep, and gold coins explode out.

But most things in life are like this — you silently smash through the first five buttons with no return. It's precisely because you've smashed through those five in obscurity that, when an opportunity comes, you're qualified to enter the game. Along the way, you have to smash through many buttons on your own before you can say, "An opportunity has come — I'm qualified to seize it."

You can't keep waiting for an opportunity to arrive at your doorstep and then complain about why there are so many barriers. Complaining just reveals your past self — why you didn't prepare well enough, so your present self is flustered and unable to face the opportunity, helplessly watching it slip away.

Making money has always been about eliminating people. Only by driving away those who stand still can the remaining ones achieve outsized profits.