Having goals and systems in place can make a task feel deceptively easy. The downward slide:
<ul>
<li>If you work hard at becoming great at something, your hard work can pay off where you become good at that thing.</li>
<li>Now that you're great you might relax and not put in that much effort.</li>
<li>Doing your thing now feels easy because your hard work led to a competitive advantage.</li>
<li>Now that you're taking it easy, your edge wears off, which competitors can take advantage of while you are dwelling in egotistical ignorance.</li>
<li>Life feels and looks easy, but that's because you're blind to the reality around you.</li>
</ul>

Diminished competitive advantages

When we experience beginners' luck, we might fool ourselves by mistaking luck for skill. It feels amazing because you get excited about your ability to repeat it.

Luck is underappreciated

It can look easy when you view the task without considering the competing interests of outside forces.
It’s hard for an outsider to see how many competing forces can prevent what looks like easy decisions.

You view a task in isolation

Everything looks easy when you can't see behind the scenes. What you do witness is the end product. You don't see the hard work and many mistakes that went in to produce the final product.

You don't see the labor

Easy makes a good story because it is short, persuasive, and comforting. But it is deceiving. Everything worthwhile has a cost.

Every job looks easy

When there is a delay between benefit and cost - as is the case of investing - the benefits always seem easier than they are. When benefits seem easier than they are, people are tempted to take risks that they shouldn't.

The delay between benefit and cost

Thinking you have created your success by yourself is faulty. Thinking your talents directly lead to your results is cognitive dissonance.
Other considerations include opened doors because of others, the input of colleagues who didn't get the credit, and a culture supportive of your unique personality.

Underestimating the role of others

Jeff Immelt left General Electric in worse shape than he found it. Critics were harsh when he stepped down as CEO in 2017. Some said his mistakes were obvious, the solutions easy. Immelt had a great response for them: "Every job looks easy when you're not the one doing it."

You view a task in isolation

Different Kinds of Easy

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