Absolutely. The article hints at this problem by saying 95th percentile is easy but the grind from 95th to 99th is more difficult, requiring explicit effort and

Absolutely. The article hints at this problem by saying 95th percentile is easy but the grind from 95th to 99th is more difficult, requiring explicit effort and reflection on your process. To use a gaming metaphor that hopefully lands, the XP grind from level 1 to 92 in Runscape is the same XP amount as the XP needed to go from 92 to 99 [0]. It is also illustrated with the Pareto Principle and the 90/10 rule where the final portion takes the most resources. Someone can easily become top 10% basketball player given the right training. 27M people played basketball recreationally in the US in 2021 [1], you only need to be in the top 2,700,000 players to be a top 10% player. There's only about 500 people in the NBA in a given year [2] so they represent approximately the top 0.0018% of organized basketball players. If you include people who play rarely or in pick-up games, the odds of a top 10% 5'9 player jump drastically. 5'9 isn't that short either, it's roughly the median height of an American man. [0]: https://runescape.fandom.com/wiki/Experience/Table https://runescape.fandom.com/wiki/Experience/Table [1]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/191632/participants-in-basketballl-in-the-us-since-2006/#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20U.S.%20Americans,old%20participated%20in%20that%20activity https://www.statista.com/statistics/191632/participants-in-b.... [2]: https://www.hoopsbeast.com/total-nba-players/ https://www.hoopsbeast.com/total-nba-players/