How We Found Out That Our Voice Matters Despite Survivorship Bias

…Even When Survivorship Bias Says We’re Just Another Statistic

Photo by Said Bensghir on Unsplash

Disclosure: This article links book titles to their Amazon.com listings using affiliate links. If you choose to click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

The first chapter of Rolf Dobelli’s The Art of Thinking Clearly hit us like a bucket of cold water — because it was right.

Somewhat shocked, Cristof had just put the book down, feeling a despairing sense of deflation. “I expected this to be motivational,” he said. “Instead, it starts with survivorship bias. It just tells us that for every superstar, there are thousands of unseen failures.”

He wasn’t wrong. Dobelli’s opening argument is a sobering one: we see the billion-dollar startups, the viral TikToks, and the Nobel laureates precisely because they survived. They are the statistical outliers. The millions who tried and failed? They vanish from the spotlight, creating a distorted map of reality where success seems not only common but almost inevitable. It’s a cognitive illusion that sets us up for disappointment.

Our initial reaction was a mix of recognition and resistance. Yes, rationally, we knew this was true. But emotionally, it felt like a dream being deferred. If the odds are so stacked against us, why even try?

Immediately, Sophia developed the antidote; because here’s what Dobelli’s clinical explanation didn’t say — and what became our most valuable aha moment: Survivorship bias isn’t a stop sign; it’s a reality check that forces you to define success on your own terms. And in doing so, we discovered two new truths:

1. That your voice matters more than any statistic.

2. That the goal is never to arrive but to be on the journey.

The Realization: Finding Freedom in the ‘Bulky Middle’

Stuck between the depressing weight of the data and the burning desire to create, we had a breakthrough. We realized that survivorship bias forces a false binary: you’re either a spectacular success or a total failure. This is the narrative that crushes dreams.

The truth is, there is a vast, vibrant, and fulfilling space between these two extremes. We call it the “Bulky Middle.”

This is where most meaningful work and life actually happen. It’s the landscape of the respected local business owner, the therapist with a full roster of clients, the artist who sells enough prints to fund their next project, and the creator with a dedicated, albeit not massive, following. They may not be on the cover of Forbes, but they are profitable, growing, and making a real impact.

Our own journey with Simple and Aligned is rooted in this middle. We asked ourselves: Is our value solely determined by a subscriber count to be chased? Or is it measured by the one comment that says, “just what I needed to hear today” or “your video helped me decide to get this book and it already changed my life”?

The latter, every time. Success isn’t just about the destination; it’s about the meaning you create along the way; it’s about doing it despite all doubts and giving it your all, whether the project makes it all the way to the stars, “only” the moon, or ends up plunging into the ocean.

In essence, success is about the person you become. The “Bulky Middle” isn’t a consolation prize; it’s the secret haven where authenticity, sustainability, and genuine connection thrive.

Why Your Voice Always Matters (Even in a “Crowded” Niche)

This realization dismantles the other classic trap of survivorship bias: the idea that if something has already been done, there’s no room for you.

We are huge fans of money mindset coach Denise Duffield-Thomas (see if she inspires you too in Chill and Prosper). One of her most powerful teachings is that no niche is too crowded because no one has your unique perspective, your voice, or your story. You’re not there to replace the giants;

you’re there to contribute to the conversation.

Think of it like a potluck dinner. Just because someone already brought a fantastic lasagna doesn’t mean your homemade salad isn’t needed, wanted, and valuable. The table is richer and more nourishing with both.

The survivorship bias would have you only see the lasagna that got the most compliments. It ignores the dozens of other dishes that were equally essential to the potluck’s success.

Your voice is that essential dish. You have a unique combination of experiences, insights, and ways of explaining things that will resonate with a specific group of people — your people. They will find you precisely because you are you, not a copy of someone else.

Practical Tools to Silence Survivorship Bias and Find Your Confidence

Understanding the theory is one thing. Quieting the voice that whispers “the odds are against you” (or something much meaner…) is another. Here are three practical tools we use to think clearly and stay aligned.

Tool 1: The 1% Rule

Stop trying to be 100% as good as the superstar in your field. It’s paralyzing. Instead, focus on being 1% better for your specific audience today.

Ask questions like:

• Did you explain a concept more clearly?

• Did you create a more engaging thumbnail?

• Did you connect with one follower in the comments?

That’s a win. These tiny, consistent improvements compound into undeniable expertise and growth over time. (Remember the life-changing 1% method of Atomic Habits?)

Tool 2: Being Radically Open-Minded

Normalize the struggle. We keep learning, not only from others, but also from our “failures” — the video that flopped, the idea that didn’t get the views it deserved, the collab outreach that fell through.

This didn’t come easy, especially to Cristof. He nowadays admits quite openly that he wasn’t really coachable until he read about radical open-mindedness in Principles by his investment management idol, Ray Dalio.

This practice does two things: it proves that every “overnight success” has a similar list of learning lessons hidden away, and it reframes failure from a mark of shame into a tuition fee for your education.

Tool 3: Micro-Validation

Chase micro-validations, not just macro-virality. Did your post help one person? Did you receive a thoughtful DM? Did you finally implement a system you’d been avoiding? Celebrate it! These small wins are the true fuel for the long haul. They are proof that you are making a difference, right now, regardless of the size of your platform.

The Joy of Showing Up (As You Are)

In the end, survivorship bias is a tool for clarity, not a prediction of your future. It clears away the noise of unrealistic expectations so you can hear your own calling more clearly.

We create not because we are guaranteed to “make it,” but because creating is who we are. The act itself — the process of reading, synthesizing, and sharing nuggets of wisdom — is fulfilling. The aligned action is the reward. Any external success that follows is a beautiful byproduct.

Rolf Dobelli’s The Art of Thinking Clearly gave us the jolt we needed to shed our illusions and build a sturdier, more resilient dream. One that isn’t based on becoming an outlier, but on becoming the most authentic versions of ourselves, serving our audience in the unique way only we can.

Ready to see (and read) beyond the survivorship bias and think more clearly about your own goals? You can grab your copy of the bestseller The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli here.

We’d love to hear from you: What’s one area of your life where you’ve felt the pressure of survivorship bias? How do you plan to redefine success there? Let us know in the comments below!

And if you prefer to watch our raw, initial conversation about this book, you can check out our video here:

https://www.tiktok.com/@simpleandaligned/video/7539951821926780191

---

Ready for more mindset shifts that quiet the noise? Start your day grounded and confident with our free newsletter — your source for daily affirmations and our ever-growing collection of resources for an aligned life.

---

108: 25 Books from 2021

2021 was a really full year. A lot got done. But one of the things that I am most happy about is that I made time for reading - one of my priorities which in the past would get sidelined by money-generating projects. I love to read and the challenge was to make time for it and get it done.

So when I sat down to review all the books I read in 2021, I was delighted that I kept up an average of 2 books a month and have a total of 25 books read during the year. Here they are listed in hopes that you may be inspired to pick one or two of these titles from your local library:

1. Atomic Habits by James Clear

2. Profit First by Michael M.

3. Failing Up by Leslie Odom Jr.

4. This is Marketing by Seth Godin

5. Show Your Work by Austin Kleon

6. Chillpreneur Audiobook by Denise Duffield Thomas

7. Hello Habits Audiobook by Fumio Sasaki

8. Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World by Willian Walker Atkinson (1906)

9. Your Invisible Power by Genevieve Behrend (1921)

10. Law & Promise by Neville Goddard

11. The Creative Use of Imagination by Neville Goddard

12. The Bank on Yourself Revolution by Pamela Yellen

13. Playing the Matrix by Mike Dooley

14. How to Win At the Sport of Biz by Mark Cuban

15. If Trees Could Talk by Holly Worton

16. Why not me? by Mindy Kaling

17. We Should All Be Millionaires by Rachel Rodgers

18. The Leveraged Business by Fabienne Fredrickson

19. Cashflow Quadrant by Robert Kiyosaki

20. The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish

21. The Magic of Believing by Claude M. Bristol

22. You Are So Money by Farnoosh Torabi

23. The Next Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and his daughter

24. Deep Work by Cal Newport

25. Ladies Power Up Your Brand by Faith James & Stacey Graiko

Want to know the 20 books I read in 2020? Check this blog for the book list.

088: Success Habit of Millionaires That Will Speed Up Your Business Success

Do you know how many books you read in 2020? I am asking this not to make you feel bad if you didn’t - hey, 2020 has been tough on many fronts, needless to say. But the number of books and what type of books you read can be a key indicator and a key contributor to your financial and business success. And when you borrow books from the library, this reading habit doesn’t cost you a dime.

In this article, I will share some data on how many books millionaires and billionaires read, what my reading list is for 2021 and some links to blogs on how you help us build a reading habit ⏤ all of this to inspire you and myself to read more books in 2021, in order to learn, grow, and make a bigger positive impact in our world.

Let’s get started!

Let’s look at some research on how many books Americans read. According to the research done by Pew Research Center, the average American reads four books a year while 25% of Americans surveyed didn’t get their hands on even one. Compare that to immensely successful and influential billionaires such as Bill Gates who was mentioned article in this Inc.com article, and you get 50. Yes, he reads 50 books a year or around one book a week. If you want to know which 5 books he just recommended, check out his personal blog, GatesNotes.

Correlation between wealth and reading books
In this blog post, Sam Klemens lists ten data points that shows how many books the highly successful read. Now there’s no causal relationship established to show whether reading books led these people to become immensely successful. But in his article, you’ll see that Mark Cuban reads three hours a day while Warren Buffet reads 500 pages a day. Also, just think about Oprah and her love for books and one starts to wonder if indeed there is a causal relationship between wealth and reading. Plus, what type of books you read is equally important, right!

Making Reading a Daily Habit
To make reading part of the actions you take daily, it is important to make it a habit. Building a new habit is a skill and there’s research that says that it generally takes about 21 days to build a new habit. There are tons of books and Ted talks about how to build good habits. One trick that I learnt some years ago from Shawn Achor in his book, “The Happiness Advantage”, was to create positive triggers to help you build that habit. For example, if you want to practice the guitar everyday, keep the guitar in the middle of the living room instead of tucked away in a closet, so that it’s right in front of you. There’s less of an obstacle between you and the guitar. Using that example for reading then, one can keep the book next to your bed on the nightstand, carry it with you so you can read whenever you have to wait, and carve out a reading hour in the day where nothing else will compete with your attention. If you want to learn more about building a reading habit, read this book by James Clear called “Atomic Habits” which is all about building good habits (it’s was recommended by Sequoia Mulgrave of the DailyMode Studio and I’ve purchased the book and added it to my reading list for 2021). James Clear on his blog wrote on how to build new habits which you can read in a snap and use the tips he shares to easily implement right away.

Question: What strategies or tricks can you use to help yourself build this new daily habit?

Setting a Reading Goal for 2021
I want to read a lot more in 2021 and one thing I am doing to help me accomplish this is to create a reading goal. Earlier this week, I set the goal of reading 21 books in 2021. But then I made a list of all the books I read this year and it totalled at 20. So I am now changing my goal to reading 30 books next year. Seeing the stats of successful entrepreneurs who read up to 50 books a year, 30 is just a bit more than half, but for me this is a good goal and it’s both exciting and challenging. That’s roughly 2.5 books a month. I’ve also made a section in my bookshelf where I have placed some of books for the first half of the year. Seeing all these books in one place is motivating to me and I can’t wait to read them and gain golden nuggets of wisdom from each one of them.

Question: What will your reading goal be for 2021? And which books will make the list?

Sharing What You Learn
When working towards a new habit, not only sharing the goal can be very helpful but also sharing what you learn from them can be motivating. I’ve done that in the past on my personal development blog some years ago and I know that it greatly benefitted me when I shared some insights I gained. In fact, my very first YouTube video back in 2010 was a short book review where I shared 3 insights I gained from Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Wherever You Go, There You Are. I will get back to doing this in 2021 writing blogs or making videos about what I learn from each book.

---

This is my lovely little bookshelf. Books from the 2021 reading list marked and set aside. Let’s get reading!

My Book List
It’s good to track what books one has read to encourage oneself to read more. So here are the books I read in 2020 and you’ll see a lot of them are about success mindset and motivation. It just so happens that the list totals at 20 books however, I had not made a goal of reading 20 books in 2020!

1. The Secret Door to Success by Florence Scovel Shinn (This was written in 1941. It’s in the creative commons and there are legally free PDF versions you can find on the web).
2. The Game of Life. Ibid.
3. The Power of the Spoken Word. Ibid.
4. Your Word is Your Wand. Ibid.
5. Dollars Want Me by Henry Harrison Brown (An old book written in 1903!)
6. The Abundance Code: How to Bust the 7 Money Myths by Julie Ann Cairns
7. It’s Not Your Money by Tosha Silver
8. You are Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero
9. The Ending of Things by Ajahn Brahm (freely available from the Buddhist Publication Society’s website).
10. Meditating on No-Self by Ayya Khema (freely available from the Buddhist Publication Society’s website).
11. The Decision: Overcoming today’s BS for Tomorrow’s Success by Kevin Hart (Audiobook)
12. Miracle Morning Millionaires by Hal Elrod, David Osborn, Honoree Corder (Audiobook)
13. Goodbye Things by Fumio Sasaki
14. Making Space Clutter-Free by Tracy McCubbin
15. The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley
16. Stop Acting Rich by Thomas Stanley
17. Become Your Own Banker by R. Nelson Nash
18. Building Your Warehouse of Wealth by R. Nelson Nash
19. How Privatized Banking Really Works by Robert Murphy and Carlos Lara
20. The Anapanasati Sutta: A Practical Guide to Mindfulness of Breathing and Tranquil Wisdom Meditation by the Venerable U Vimalaramsi

To Read in 2021
(Update Dec 2021 - I read 25 books in 2021 which I’ve indicated below as Read. See complete list of books read in my 2021 Books Read Post).

1. We Should All Be Millionaires: A Woman’s Guide to Earning More, Building Wealth, and Gaining Economic Power by Rachel Rodgers - Read
2. Chillpreneur: The New Rules for Creating Success, Freedom, and Abundance on Your Terms by Denise Duffield Thomas - Read
3. Everything Is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
4. Profit First by Mike Michalowicz - Read
5. Atomic Habits by James Clear - Read
6. 10x Marketing Formula by Garrett Moon
7. Invested by Charles Schwab
8. Weekend Millionaire Mindset by Mike Summey and Dawson
9. Playing the Matrix by Mike Dooley - Read
10. Show Your Work by Austin Kleon - Read
11. This is Marketing by Seth Godin - Read
12. Traction by Gino Wickham
13. Being Nobody, Going Nowhere by Ayya Khema
14. Why Not Me? By Mindy Kaling - Read
15. How to American: An Immigrant's Guide to Disappointing Your Parents by Jimmy O. Yang
16. Thought Vibration or The Law of Attraction in the Thought World by William Walker Atkinson - Read
17. Everyday Millionaires by Chris Hogan
18. The Millionaire Mind by Thomas Stanley
19. The Next Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley - Read
20. Millionaire Women Next Door by Thomas Stanley
21. Think Like a Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day by Jay Shetty
22. Becoming by Michelle Obama
23. Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal
24. Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals by Rachel Hollis - Read
Six more to add to this list and I am sure I will be inspired next year to complete this list.

Until then, please do let me know in the chat what your book reading goals are for next year, and which books you’d recommend, especially those written by women entrepreneurs as both me and my book list need more woman power!

You have a dream to build a thriving web design business? You can make it happen!

Peace,
Sophia

My Top 5 Uplifting Books

Hello there!

I first learnt about this idea from Jack Canfield. He suggested that for setting the right tone to our day and in fact to our life, we must begin with a power hour in the morning. Essentially, a power hour includes:

20 minutes of exercise, 
20 minutes of meditation and
20 minutes of reading (uplifting materials).

In one of my Happiness Forecast episodes I recommended adding an hour of power to your day as part of the daily practices that cultivate happiness. There are more suggestions in that post including ten of my happiness boosting activities. 

Back to the hour of power and the reading part of it! So what exactly should we read in the morning? I would say read any piece of positive material that you gravitate towards. Ideally, they must be books so you can read it before turning on any of your devices. So here are my favorite uplifting materials:

1. The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra 

2. Turning the mind into an ally by Sakyong Mipham

3. The New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (or any of his books)

4. The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

5. Ask and it is given by Abraham Hicks

There are tons of wonderful writers that I could list here but these are among the 5 books that I have read repeatedly and so they make the cut to be among my top 5. But I will add a bonus # 6 below just for fun because I have read this book several times as well and each time it has filled me up with positive thinking and the light of new possibilities.

6. Write it down and make it happen by Henriette Anne Klauser.

I love to start my day with some uplifting reads. I hope you find this quick list of my top 5 helpful to start off your day on the right tone because the first hour of your day can set the mood for the rest of the day; it's that powerful! 

Enjoy your reads and do share in the comments below your favorite reads!

With love,

Sophia