Competition isn’t a game that ends with a winner who can then take a break. It never stops. A species that gains an advantage over a competitor instantly incentivizes the competitor to improve. It’s an arms race.
Some advantages also create new disadvantages.
Most species tend to get bigger over time because big things are strong. But being big also makes you slow, clumsy, and unable to hide.
“The tendency for evolution to create larger species is counterbalanced by the tendency of extinction to kill off larger species,”
There are no permanent advantages.
No one’s ever safe. No one can ever rest.
Black Rhinos survived for 8 million years before being killed off by poachers.
Lehman Brothers adapted and prospered for 150 years and 33 recessions before it met its match in mortgage-backed securities. Poof, gone.
There is never a time when an someone can discover an strategy and be confident it will continue working indefinitely. The world changes, and competitors create their own little twist that exploits and snuffs out your niche.
Same with careers.
And job skills.
And relationships.
And countries.
It’s hard to accept that you have to put in a ton of work just to stay in place, but that’s how it works. Keep running.
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