Channeling The Spirit Of Las Vegas Capitalism To Turn Stumbling Blocks Into Stepping Stones
Lately I've been seeing advertisements everywhere for Aria, the new "center" of Las Vegas.
If you've ever had a fascination with (addiction to) gambling, you'll most likely be familiar with the Las Vegas strip.
What boggles the mind is how much money the casinos are able to siphon away based on relatively tiny statistical advantages.
Take Blackjack for example. The house advantage in Vegas for Blackjack is less than one percent. This number varies based on how many decks are being used and the rules of the game. But even so, for all types of Blackjack you can find in Las Vegas... the house edge is less than one percent.
That means that the two competing forces... you wanting to win big... and the house wanting to rob you of your life savings with a smile... are damn near equal, practically speaking.
With a little research you'll find the most often played casino games have a house edge of less than ten percent. Usually less than five.
And those slivers of an advantage are all it takes to build the massive wealth of the casinos.
So... I got to thinking.
What if you could go through life with the house advantage? That is, if tweaking the odds just slightly is all it takes to build truly mind-numbing wealth for the casinos... why not tweak the odds in every area of life to get past your stuck points?
If you're living in America today chances are you've got unfulfilled desires resulting from an emotionally charged stuck point.
Statistically, this means weight loss for most people. But it could also likely be your finances. Or your ability to effectively communicate with a potential mate. Or anything. Whatever.
The point is, if you're 'stuck', you need to engineer an advantage, however slight, and maintain it over time. The opposing force needs to be weakened and the goal force needs to be strengthened and this balance must move through the fourth dimension of time long enough to get the result you're looking for.
Time, though, is the key. Time is what makes a slight advantage so profitable. If you get a nice 55/45 balance going in your favor, but can only maintain it for a week, it may as well have never happened in the long run. If you can maintain it for a year, or five years, however... the change will be massive. And, it will last.
Let's take the example of weight loss, since it's relevant to most people. If you create a slight caloric deficit of 250 calories through what you eat (which is easy enough to be considered unnoticable), and exercise away a slight caloric burn of 250 calories every day through something like walking around (also incredibly easy), you've netted minus 500 calories for the day.
Over a week that's a pound of fat.
Over a year, that's 52 lbs. of fat.
Over five years, that's 260 lbs. of fat.
Or... if you don't have that much to lose, you can relax those already incredibly slight modifications to maintain your progress. And, that's assuming no change in strategy as time goes on. What most often happens is you become more motivated and efficient with your strategies as you progress through a challenge. So progress usually isn't linear but instead will come along with major breakthroughs that speed up the process.
This is just one example. You can apply this sort of strategy to anything. Finance, love life, etc. I use these examples because they're on the cover of most magazines, regardless of the target audience's gender or age and thus have the most universal relevance. I know as a marketer that most people want to be more physically attractive, less worried about money, and have a more active sex life.
Get the 'house' advantage going in your favor and these challenges all become a lot easier and fun to move through.
If you've ever had a fascination with (addiction to) gambling, you'll most likely be familiar with the Las Vegas strip.
What boggles the mind is how much money the casinos are able to siphon away based on relatively tiny statistical advantages.
Take Blackjack for example. The house advantage in Vegas for Blackjack is less than one percent. This number varies based on how many decks are being used and the rules of the game. But even so, for all types of Blackjack you can find in Las Vegas... the house edge is less than one percent.
That means that the two competing forces... you wanting to win big... and the house wanting to rob you of your life savings with a smile... are damn near equal, practically speaking.
With a little research you'll find the most often played casino games have a house edge of less than ten percent. Usually less than five.
And those slivers of an advantage are all it takes to build the massive wealth of the casinos.
So... I got to thinking.
What if you could go through life with the house advantage? That is, if tweaking the odds just slightly is all it takes to build truly mind-numbing wealth for the casinos... why not tweak the odds in every area of life to get past your stuck points?
If you're living in America today chances are you've got unfulfilled desires resulting from an emotionally charged stuck point.
Statistically, this means weight loss for most people. But it could also likely be your finances. Or your ability to effectively communicate with a potential mate. Or anything. Whatever.
The point is, if you're 'stuck', you need to engineer an advantage, however slight, and maintain it over time. The opposing force needs to be weakened and the goal force needs to be strengthened and this balance must move through the fourth dimension of time long enough to get the result you're looking for.
Time, though, is the key. Time is what makes a slight advantage so profitable. If you get a nice 55/45 balance going in your favor, but can only maintain it for a week, it may as well have never happened in the long run. If you can maintain it for a year, or five years, however... the change will be massive. And, it will last.
Let's take the example of weight loss, since it's relevant to most people. If you create a slight caloric deficit of 250 calories through what you eat (which is easy enough to be considered unnoticable), and exercise away a slight caloric burn of 250 calories every day through something like walking around (also incredibly easy), you've netted minus 500 calories for the day.
Over a week that's a pound of fat.
Over a year, that's 52 lbs. of fat.
Over five years, that's 260 lbs. of fat.
Or... if you don't have that much to lose, you can relax those already incredibly slight modifications to maintain your progress. And, that's assuming no change in strategy as time goes on. What most often happens is you become more motivated and efficient with your strategies as you progress through a challenge. So progress usually isn't linear but instead will come along with major breakthroughs that speed up the process.
This is just one example. You can apply this sort of strategy to anything. Finance, love life, etc. I use these examples because they're on the cover of most magazines, regardless of the target audience's gender or age and thus have the most universal relevance. I know as a marketer that most people want to be more physically attractive, less worried about money, and have a more active sex life.
Get the 'house' advantage going in your favor and these challenges all become a lot easier and fun to move through.
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