The Biggest Arena Is the Arbitrator
Most people don’t choose a niche because it’s where they’re genuinely strongest. They choose it because, on some level, they already know they wouldn’t survive open comparison in the biggest arena.
Only about 10–15% deliberately specialize upward — after testing themselves against the highest standards and deciding that focus, not insulation, is the real advantage.
The majority, roughly 60–70%, select niches implicitly, gravitating toward spaces where benchmarking is soft, ranking is optional, and outcomes are easier to narrate than to prove.
Another 15–20% arrive at a niche after a brief encounter with open competition, reframing retreat as philosophy rather than constraint.
Just 1–3% let the arena decide first and accept whatever outcome follows.
The difference shows up in language.
People who earn their niche can say, calmly and without defensiveness, “I could compete at a higher level — I just choose not to.”
Those who avoid the arena tend to insist, often loudly, that the arena itself doesn’t matter.