Dark Horse Quotes

“To put a finer point on the Mario Kart Theory of Talent: every vehicle has a chance of winning the race, as long as you operate the vehicle according to its jagged profile.”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment

“Get better at the things you care about most. This is the dark horse prescription for personalized success. It elegantly summarizes all four elements of the dark horse mindset.”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment

“Of all the ways that the covenant can make you underestimate your own potential, perhaps the most deflating is when an institution insists that you adopt a strategy that does not suit you - and then reprimands you when you struggle, condescendingly attributing your failure to a lack of talent”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment

“The reason we all came to accept this dehumanizing system so wholeheartedly is because society made an implicit promise to its citizens in the Age of Standardization: if you can follow the straight path to its destination, you will be granted employment, social status, and financial security. ... According to the terms of this Standardization Covenant, society will bestow its rewards upon you as long as you abandon the individual pursuit of personal fulfillment for the standardized pursuit of professional excellence. ... The Standardization Covenant demands that we follow the Standard Formula to attain excellence, which will then lead to fulfillment—somehow. Dark horses, meanwhile, harness their individuality in the pursuit of fulfillment, which creates the optimal conditions for attaining excellence. ... The Standardization Covenant is holding all of us back. Though its views of talent and success are easy to grasp and reassuringly familiar, there is no future for a society devoted to the proposition that the pursuit of standardized excellence leads to fulfillment. The dark horse mindset, meanwhile, opens onto an unbounded social universe of achievement and joy. ... Every standardized institution, by definition and design, is focused on efficiency above all else, and generic motives and universal motives are efficient ways of moving the needle—on average, at least. But they’re horrible for your own fulfillment. Not only do standardized views of motivation ignore everything that is important about who you are, but by incessantly focusing all of our attention on a small set of institutionally ordained motives, the Standardization Covenant constrains our thinking about what a personal motive can even be. Fortunately, dark horses reveal the hidden truth about motivation ... Under the covenant, your chosen form of standardized excellence became your destination. Dark horses take a different perspective. When they consider excellence, they presume that individuality matters. ... The Standardization Covenant’s assurance that the pursuit of excellence leads to fulfillment was always a false promise. ... Only by prioritizing your own fulfillment can you advance toward your peak excellence, and only by advancing toward your peak excellence can you experience fulfillment. You need the energy of self-engineered passion and the direction of self-engineered purpose to scale the mountain of excellence, and you need the pride, self-worth, and sense of meaningful accomplishment from self-engineered achievement to experience the full flush of fulfillment. When you apply the four elements of the dark horse mindset in your own life, fulfillment and excellence come under your conscious control. You are no longer a puppet of fate, but the master of your destiny. When you focus on getting better at the things you care about most, you are not wandering. ... Now we have the chance to ratify a Dark Horse Covenant, predicated upon the belief that everyone possesses the potential for their own variety of merit and endorsing a core value of fulfillment, leading to a system of opportunity where anyone and everyone can succeed. This democratic meritocracy will be enforced by individuals, with the consent of individuals.”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment

“We might presume that a social contract should be a lengthy legal document with many provisions and clauses. But the real authority of a social contract does not derive from a piece of parchment, but from a few simple truths that we all abide by, truths that implicitly structure the relationship between individuals and the institutions we create to serve us. At its heart, a social contract defines what we owe one another.

Recall the terms of the Standardization Covenant:
Society is obligated to reward you with opportunity if and only if you abandon the pursuit of personal fulfillment for the pursuit of standardized excellence.
If we want a democratic meritocracy for ourselves and our children, then we must each choose to ratify a new social contract:
Society is obligated to provide you with the opportunity to pursue fulfillment, and you are accountable for your own fulfillment.
The supreme institutional obligation under the Dark Horse Covenant is to provide Equal Fit. The supreme individual obligation under the Dark Horse Covenant is Personal Accountability.”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment

“Every standardized institution, by definition and design, is focused on efficiency above all else, and generic motives and universal motives are efficient ways of moving the needle—on average, at least. But they’re horrible for your own fulfillment. Not only do standardized views of motivation ignore everything that is important about who you are, but by incessantly focusing all of our attention on a small set of institutionally ordained motives, the Standardization Covenant constrains our thinking about what a personal motive can even be.
Fortunately, dark horses reveal the hidden truth about motivation. ... The lives of dark horses demonstrate the remarkable specificity of micro-motives.”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment

“There is a term for those who triumph against the odds—for winners nobody saw coming. They are called dark horses.

The expression 'dark horse' first entered common parlance after the publication of The Young Duke in 1831. In this British novel, the title character bets on a horse race and loses big after the race is won by an unknown “dark horse, which had never been thought of.” The phrase quickly caught on. “Dark horse” came to denote an unexpected victor who had been overlooked because she did not fit the standard notion of a champion.

Ever since the term was coined, society has enjoyed a peculiar relationship with dark horses. By definition, we ignore them until they attain their success, at which point we are entertained and inspired by tales of their unconventional ascent. Even so, we rarely feel there is much to learn from them that we might profitably apply to our own lives, since their achievements often seem to rely upon haphazard spurts of luck.

We applaud the tenacity and pluck of a dark horse like Jennie or Alan, but the very improbability of their transformation—from fast-food server to planet-hunting astronomer, from blue-collar barkeep to upscale couturier— makes their journeys seem too exceptional to emulate. Instead, when we seek a dependable formula for success, we turn to the Mozarts, Warren Buffetts, and Tiger Woodses of the world. The ones everybody saw coming.”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment

“But just because we now desire a new kind of success doesn’t mean we know how to get it.
This rising demand for a life of personalized success has run ahead of what science can deliver because the academic study of success remains stubbornly marooned in the Age of Standardization.”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment

“There is a term for those who triumph against the odds—for winners nobody saw coming. They are called dark horses.”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment

“Systems that adapt themselves to your individuality without offering you genuine choice are systems with unlimited power to control you.”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment

“Sometimes a dimension of ability that appears to be a weakness becomes a strength in the right context.”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment

“Under the standardization covenant, talent is not rare by empirical fact. Talent is rare by institutional decree.”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment

“I am at peace with my choices, because they were my own.”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment

“But if you rely upon situational decision-making - if your pursue near-term goals while maintaining the flexibility of changing course if a better strategy or opportunity presents itself - you will always be climbing higher.”
― Todd Rose, Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment