Six variables that determine life outcomes:

1. Cognition: Determines what you can see. Those who cannot see opportunities will never seize them; those who cannot see risks will ultimately be educated by risks.
2. Screening: Determines what game you enter. Order, country, industry, city, track, partners, customers—these are all forms of screening. Often, choice is more important than effort.
3. System: Determines whether you can continuously produce results. People without systems rely on states; those with systems rely on processes; the former depend on performance, while the latter are replicable.
4. Structure: Determines your position. Different positions correspond to different resources, power, and distribution methods. The same ability can yield returns that differ by dozens of times in different structures.
5. Leverage: Determines how many times your results can be amplified. Human effort, capital, technology, branding, platforms—all are forms of leverage. An individual creating value alone has limits; with leverage, value can expand exponentially.
6. Cycle: Determines when results are realized. The same person, the same matter, can yield completely different outcomes in different historical contexts. Cycles do not create ability but can amplify or suppress it.

Many people think life is a competition of effort. But at a deeper level, life is actually the combined effect of cognition, screening, systems, structure, leverage, and cycles. Cognition determines screening, screening determines systems, systems determine structure, structure determines leverage, and cycles determine the speed at which all this is ultimately realized.