Scott Clary
Join 200,000+ readers, discussing mental models, performance, business and entrepreneurship.
Mar 27 • 15 min read
Success Is Just Survival With Better Storytelling
|
Hi All! Here is my weekly letter discussing mental models, performance, business and entrepreneurship. If you love this content (please share it), but also… Check out my Podcast, connect with me on YouTube / Twitter, and read my Weekly newsletter. Sponsor: VantaSecurity is essential for business success. Without it, deals stall and scaling becomes difficult because investors, customers, and partners expect strong security practices. Vanta helps businesses prove trustworthiness by automating compliance across 35+ frameworks like SOC 2, ISO 27001, and HIPAA. Their platform:
An IDC report found Vanta customers achieve $535,000+ in annual benefits with the platform paying for itself in just three months. Special offer: Get $1,000 off Vanta for a limited time at vanta.com/Scott. Listen Here
Success Is Just Survival With Better StorytellingYour entire life will change when you realize this simple truth: Success is just survival with better storytelling. Let me say that one more time. Success is just survival with better storytelling. I've spent the last 6 years studying the most "successful" people on the planet. I've gone deep into their content, analyzed their businesses, joined their communities, and even worked alongside them. Here's what I discovered: Nobody has it figured out. The 8-figure founder still wakes up with crippling anxiety. The influencer with 2 million followers still questions if they're good enough. The investor with the perfect portfolio is one bad decision away from collapse. Everyone's winging it—but some are just louder, more confident, more polished in how they present the chaos. This isn't some feel-good cope. It's reality. And once you understand it, everything changes. The Grand Illusion of MasteryThe world doesn't reward competence. It rewards the perception of competence. Look at any industry and you'll see this pattern: The most successful people aren't necessarily the most skilled—they're the ones who position themselves as authorities through storytelling. I'm not saying they're not skilled, but there are lots of people who are incredibly skilled who aren't in positions of authority. The gap is storytelling. To be clear: Storytelling isn't manipulation. It's communication. It's the difference between having value and having that value recognized. It's the bridge between your competence and other people's understanding. They package their journey, their insights, and even their failures into a narrative that suggests mastery. That projects certainty. That implies they've cracked a code you haven't. But here's what they won't tell you: Behind the perfect morning routine is a person who hits snooze 4 times. Behind the "crushed it again" LinkedIn post is a week of existential dread. Behind the "how I built my empire" tweet thread is a founder who's secretly wondering if it's all about to fall apart. I've seen it first-hand. I've been in the private conversations, the back-stage moments, the late-night strategy sessions. The gap between public perception and private reality isn't just big—it's the entire game. I remember sitting across from someone worth nine figures listening to them talk about their perfect life. Two hours later, I found them at the hotel bar, three drinks in, telling me about their divorce, their health problems, and how they sometimes wonder if any of it was worth it. That's not the story they sell on stage. That's not the story that built their empire. But that's the reality behind it. And here's the thing: Their audience doesn't want the messy truth. Even if they say they do. They want the clean narrative. They want the illusion that if they just follow the formula, they can have those results—without the suffering, the uncertainty, the constant fear of it all falling apart. The Massive Opportunity Most MissThis creates a massive opportunity that most people completely miss. Most creators and entrepreneurs get this backwards. They think, "Once I master this skill, I'll be successful." They spend years in the trenches developing competence while ignoring the more important skill: storytelling. Meanwhile, the person with 1/10th their ability but 10x their storytelling skill runs laps around them. This isn't about being fake. It's about understanding a fundamental truth: How you communicate your journey is just as important as the journey itself. See the opportunity? If mediocre people with great storytelling are winning, imagine what happens when you combine elite competence WITH elite storytelling. Game over. Let me be clear - I hate seeing people with mediocre skills but great storytelling outperform truly talented people. I'm not telling you to become all story and no substance. What I'm saying is you should aim to have 11 out of 10 ability but also the 10x storytelling skill. Most people choose one or the other. Be the rare person who masters both. Stories aren't inherently good or bad—they're tools for connection and understanding. It's how you use them that matters. The problem isn't storytelling; it's storytelling that masks incompetence or misrepresents reality. The creator who fails 9 times before succeeding on the 10th attempt but only shares the success? They're telling a fake story of overnight mastery. But if you're a creator or entrepreneur who documents all 10 attempts, shares insights from each failure, you're telling a story of persistent growth. Same outcome. Different narrative. Radically different perception. You have to ask yourself: what kind of story do you want to tell? What kind of audience do you want to build? For me, it's the latter. The first story—the one where you leave out the nine failures—builds an audience hungry for a magic bullet. The second story builds a community of fellow journeyers. Some people don't do either. They only focus on their failures and then they don't build anything. But between those first two options, which is more valuable long-term? I've learned this lesson multiple times. I just learned it on a small project where I tried to start a business, lost a significant sum of money, and about 18 months of my life. My immediate instinct was to hide that failure—to pretend it never happened and start fresh with something new. But that's not the lesson I'm teaching you. That's not what you do. Instead, I wrote about it. I spoke about it. I broke down exactly what went wrong, what I learned, how I would approach things differently next time, the things I took away from that failure. And this content—some newsletters I've written about it, some posts—generated more followers, more connections, more opportunities than anything I'd written before. Why? Because strategic authenticity is the ultimate pattern interrupt in a world of manufactured success. Look around and you'll see it everywhere: people telling polished stories while hiding their lack of competence and leaving out the ugly, messy parts. I'm proposing something different: include the ugly, messy parts. Tell the full story. And also develop real competence. That combination is how you win. The 5 Storytelling Patterns of the Ultra-SuccessfulAfter studying hundreds of successful creators, I've identified five storytelling patterns they all use: 1 – The Transformation Frame They never present success as innate talent. They frame it as a journey from struggle to breakthrough, inviting others to identify with the starting point. "I was broke and sleeping on my friend's couch 3 years ago. Now I run a 7-figure business. Here's what changed." 2 – The Selective Reveal They share vulnerabilities—but strategic ones. Struggles that humanize without undermining authority. Past failures, not current uncertainties. "I failed at my first three businesses before finding this model that works." Never: "I'm not sure if my current business will survive the next 6 months." 3 – The Pattern Recognition Flex They position normal observations as profound insights, using language like "I've noticed that..." or "Most people miss this, but..." to suggest unique perception. "Most people completely miss this about building an audience, but the algorithm actually rewards..." This is a great storytelling tool to codify your wisdom. 4 – The Accessible Expert Position They balance aspirational achievement with relatable humanity. "I've built multiple 7-figure businesses, but still forget to unmute on Zoom calls." This creates the perfect combination: "They're successful enough to teach me but human enough to understand my struggles." 5 – The Future-Past Bridge They connect where they were (relatable) to where they are (aspirational) to where they're going (visionary), creating a narrative path others want to follow. "I started with just 10 followers three years ago. Now we're at 500,000. And we're just getting started—the mission for the next decade is to reach 10 million people with this message." Master these patterns and you've mastered the game. I'm telling you these patterns in hopes that you will use them ethically. You will use them to amplify your competence. People can use these patterns maliciously. But if you're reading this, I know that you are a competent, ethical person, and I want to give you these tools to build a connection with your audience and elevate your own personal brand. Now we've covered how successful people tell their stories. But I want to shift gears and talk about why they tell them this way—and the more complex psychological reality behind these patterns. Because these storytelling patterns aren't inherently good or bad—they're tools. And like any tool, the impact depends entirely on how they're used. When these patterns are used with integrity—backed by real competence and genuine value—they serve an important purpose. They help people understand complex ideas, see possibilities in their own lives, and connect with your message on a deeper level. But when these same techniques are used to mask incompetence or manipulate others, that's when things get psychologically complicated. That's where the problems begin. You see, most discussions about storytelling are overly simplistic. They're either "these are cynical marketing tactics" or "these are essential communication skills." The truth lies somewhere more nuanced. After spending time with hundreds of successful creators behind closed doors, I've learned that even those using these patterns effectively often struggle with the psychological weight of how they present themselves versus how they feel inside. The Dark Psychology of Success TheaterThis performance of certainty isn't just marketing. It's a psychological coping mechanism. The entrepreneur projecting unwavering confidence? They're often managing their own crippling doubt. The creator selling transformation? They're trying to transform themselves through you. The productivity expert with the perfect system? They're trying to control their own chaos. We teach what we most need to learn. We sell what we most want to buy. We project what we most fear we lack. This isn't cynicism. It's human psychology. Every creator working in the public sphere (including me) is working through their own shit while challenging others to level up. The honest ones admit it. The rest hide it behind performative mastery. The problem is that maintaining this performance takes a psychological toll. The bigger the gap between your public image and private reality, the more exhausting it becomes to bridge that gap every day. And here's where it gets really insidious: Your honest uncertainty feels like weakness compared to their manufactured certainty. Your authentic journey feels inadequate compared to their curated highlight reel. Your real-time learning feels slow compared to their retrospective wisdom. This comparison doesn't just hurt—it paralyzes. The problem isn't just external, either. It's internal. You start to believe that your messy reality isn't just different from their polished presentation—it's inferior. That your doubt isn't just normal—it's disqualifying. You think: "If I was really cut out for this, I'd feel as certain as they seem to be." But that's the greatest illusion of all. And this is where the opportunity exists—for you to build something more authentic and sustainable than the fragile success theater all around you. But here's what makes this challenging: just recognizing the problem isn't enough to solve it. Even when you see through the illusion, it's still incredibly easy to fall into the same psychological traps. Why? Because we're hardwired to compare ourselves to others. We naturally measure our messy insides against others' polished outsides. And in a world saturated with curated success stories, those comparisons are happening hundreds of times per day, often below your conscious awareness. To build something truly different, you need to first understand exactly how this comparison trap operates—the specific psychological mechanics that keep most people stuck in perpetual inadequacy. Only then can you disarm it in your own mind and create an alternative that actually works. Breaking The Comparison TrapWhen you're constantly exposed to success theater, it creates a predictable psychological pattern:
This cycle isn't accidental. It's common. It happens because we're naturally drawn to people who project certainty in an uncertain world. Many people in the personal development space genuinely want to help, but the incentives often reward projecting more certainty than actually exists. The frameworks, systems, and methods that get marketed most heavily are those packaged with the strongest promises and the clearest guarantees. But the truly transformative thinkers—the ones who create lasting change—do something different. They demystify success. They normalize struggle. They give you permission to be exactly where you are while equipping you to move forward. So the question becomes: how do you break this cycle and build real success that doesn't depend on fake certainty? How to Actually Win: Strategic Authenticity With Real CompetenceThe true opportunity here isn't just avoiding the traps of success theater—it's creating a better alternative. Being aware of this performative culture isn't enough. You need to actively build something different—a story that's authentically aligned with who you are while still strategically crafted to connect with others. This isn't just about your success. It's about becoming the kind of role model you wished you had when you were starting out—someone who delivers real value while maintaining genuine integrity. So how do you leverage storytelling as the powerful tool it is without falling into the traps that come with it? How do you communicate your value without compromising your values? There's a better way, and it combines the best of both worlds: Embrace strategic transparency Share your process, not just your outcomes. Document the journey, including the failures. But frame those failures as necessary iterations rather than evidence of incompetence. I know someone who built a $600,000/year business in 14 months not by hiding her struggles but by documenting them. Every setback became content. Every challenge became a lesson. She wasn't perfect—she was relatable. And relatable beats perfect every time. What made her approach different was that she shared the struggles after working through them—with perspective and lessons extracted, not in the heat of raw emotion. This is the crucial distinction between strategic transparency and reckless vulnerability. Build in public, but not in real-time Document everything, but share with a slight delay. This gives you perspective to extract insights rather than raw emotions. The best "build in public" content isn't truly real-time. It's reflection shared soon enough to feel current but with enough distance to extract wisdom. When you're in the middle of a crisis, your emotions are too raw, your perspective too limited. Document it privately, then share it once you've gained enough distance to turn it into wisdom rather than venting. This isn't about being inauthentic—it's about being responsibly authentic. It's the difference between dumping unprocessed emotions on your audience and offering them processed insights that actually serve them. Focus on frameworks, not formulas Don't sell certainty. Sell better ways to navigate uncertainty. Not "do this and succeed" but "when facing this challenge, here are three approaches I've found useful." The most valuable expertise isn't knowing exactly what will happen. It's having multiple strategies for whatever might happen. This approach does something powerful: it positions you as a thoughtful guide rather than an infallible guru. You're not claiming to have THE answer—you're offering tools that have worked in specific contexts. Master parallel processing Learn to hold two truths simultaneously: "I don't have all the answers" and "I know enough to help others make progress." This tension isn't a contradiction—it's the essence of authentic expertise. The most trusted voices aren't those who claim to know everything. They're those who clearly define what they know, what they suspect, and what they're still figuring out. This is perhaps the most difficult skill of all. Most people swing between unearned confidence and paralyzing self-doubt. The master stands firmly in the middle, comfortable with knowing some things deeply while still being a student in others. Create at the edge of your understanding The most valuable content lives where your knowledge meets your questions. Share what you know, but also what you're still figuring out. This approach isn't just more honest—it's more effective. When you stop pretending to have it all figured out, you develop a superpower: the ability to learn, adapt, and grow in public without the crippling pressure of performative certainty. The Underrated Advantage of Honest UncertaintyThe irony is powerful: Your willingness to acknowledge uncertainty isn't weakness—it's your greatest strength. While everyone else is exhausting themselves maintaining the illusion of perfect knowledge, you're conserving that energy for actual growth. While they're stuck defending outdated positions to protect their status, you're free to evolve your thinking as new information emerges. While they're attracting followers who expect magic bullets and secret formulas, you're building a community of fellow thinkers who value honest exploration. This isn't just morally superior—it's strategically advantageous. In a world of fake certainty, real curiosity is the ultimate differentiator. This is where storytelling transforms from a marketing tactic into something much more valuable—a tool for genuine connection and growth. Think about who you trust more: The person who has an immediate answer for everything, never admitting doubt. Or the person who sometimes says, "That's a great question. I don't have a perfect answer, but here's my current thinking..." The second person isn't displaying weakness. They're displaying intellectual honesty. And in a world drowning in confident bullshit, intellectual honesty is rare and valuable. The Two Paths ForwardThere are two ways to build your career, your business, your creative work: Path 1: The Confidence Game Perfect your story. Hide your struggles. Project unwavering certainty. Attract people who want the fantasy. Exhaust yourself maintaining the illusion. Eventually burn out or become what you once pretended to be. Path 2: The Integrity Game Refine your thinking. Share your journey, strategically. Navigate uncertainty with confidence rather than projecting false certainty. Attract people who value truth over comfort. Build sustainable success on authentic foundations. The first path might get you there faster. The second path will keep you there longer. The first path might make you rich. The second path will make you fulfilled. The first path requires you to become someone else. The second path allows you to become your best self. Again, the point isn't that storytelling itself is the problem. The problem is when storytelling becomes disconnected from reality. When used well, storytelling is how we make sense of reality and help others do the same. You're Not Behind. You're Just Honest.If you've been feeling like you're somehow falling behind because you don't have the perfect roadmap while everyone else seems to, remember this: You're not behind. You're just too honest with yourself to fake it. Your awareness of the complexity, the nuance, the unknowns—that's not a weakness to overcome. It's clarity that others haven't yet achieved. The most powerful position isn't "I have all the answers." It's "I have some valuable insights, I'm actively working on important questions, and I'm bringing you along for the journey." That's not just good ethics. It's good business. It's good creativity. It's good life strategy. What I'm ultimately advocating for isn't just a different approach to content creation or business building. It's a fundamentally different relationship with success itself. Most people view success as a fixed destination they need to reach as quickly as possible—even if that means faking their way there. They're willing to compromise who they are to achieve what they want. But what if success isn't a destination at all? What if it's more like a conversation—an ongoing dialogue between your evolving skills and the world's evolving needs? In that framework, storytelling isn't manipulation—it's translation. It's how you communicate your unique value in a way others can understand and appreciate. When you combine genuine competence with effective storytelling, you create something truly rare and valuable. You become the exception to the rule—someone who doesn't just look successful but actually delivers the value to match. This is the true opportunity hiding in plain sight. While others are busy crafting perfect stories about imperfect skills, you can be developing the perfect combination—elite skills translated through powerful storytelling. The gap you saw earlier? That's where you step in. That's where you win. Master your craft. Master your story. Build something real. – Scott Other Partners (They Have Some Special Offers For Readers.. Check Them Out)
My Links |
Join 200,000+ readers, discussing mental models, performance, business and entrepreneurship.