Mahesh's Thirteenth Law - "Making it into the NBA" syndrome

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You are not going to make it into the NBA

Corollary
It doesn't matter how hard you work at it, this is a Probability Zero event

Corollary 2
You always think the odds are way better than they actually are

Example
I can win the lottery.
I will make it into the 1% (by working really hard)
  
Addendum
People remain convinced that, against all odds, they will succeed at some ridiculously impossible endeavor.
The real odds of making it into the NBA are actually somewhere south of 0.03 % (close to drawing four of a kind in Poker)

Most people think that
  • The odds of getting into the NBA doesn't matter, so long as you work really hard at it (and believe in yourself...)
  • If pressed, they'll say that the odds of getting into the NBA are > 1%

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