Don’t play games you can’t win.
If the deck is stacked against you, a smart option is to go to a different table and play with a different deck.
The dominant system wants you to wait to get picked. It indoctrinates people, again and again, in accepting its hegemony and insight and wisdom, so that we judge ourselves instead of the system.
If the system were fair and wise, this would be fine. But it might not be.
If you’re waiting to get picked by a famous college or a big company or the music industry, you might end up waiting a very long time. Of course, that’s what schooling taught you to do. The lessons run deep.
There’s often an alternative, one that walks away from the insulation, comfort and deniability the system offers.
You can build your own system.
There’s a long history of musicians, from traveling folk singers to the Grateful Dead, building their own followings and walking away from MTV and the radio.
There are plenty of examples of committed students who took a gap year (or two or six) and built something that mattered.
Non-profit leaders who refuse to succumb to galas or mass appeal can build projects of significance with a surprisingly small base of supporters.
Entrepreneurs and freelancers who deliver value instead of looking for a job. Not for everyone, but for someone.
You’re probably not going to end up with a million followers by adhering to the rules of the algorithm. But that’s okay, because you don’t need a million followers to make a difference.