Only 20% of people can be in the top 20%. That's just how percentages work. If you believe in Pareto's Law, which states that 80% of the outcomes go to 20% of the causes, this means the top 20% of people get to eat 80% of the pie. I know I'm throwing a lot of numbers at you but what I'm trying to get at is that it pays very well to be in the top 20% of any given industry. And, if you can somehow ratchet your way up to the top 10% or even the top 1%, you make off like a king.

The problem is that people tend to choose industries that are highly competitive, where there are hundreds of thousands––if not millions––of people competing to be in the top 20%. These people work their asses off trying to become actors, artists and novelists only to spend their lives in the bottom 50%, where nobody can make enough money to afford bread, let alone rent.

You're far better off choosing an ugly, boring, unfashionable industry and fighting like hell to enter into the top 20%. From there, you take the money you've made and the freedom it grants you to pursue anything your heart desires on the side.