THINKDROP 20: Perception is a liar!
- Pierre Stanghellini
- Oct 14
- 5 min read
Time to redraw what risk, success, and growth really look like.
🎤 From Me to You
“We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” — Seneca
We all carry distorted maps in our minds.
Like the Mercator world map, where countries closer to the equator appear smaller, and others like Greenland or Russia seem massive.
For example, Greenland looks enormous — but in reality, it's smaller than the Democratic Republic of Congo. That’s not real! Canada and Russia appear up to 2–2.5x larger than they really are, while Africa — which is three times the size of Canada — looks smaller.
That distortion shapes how we subconsciously rank importance.
That’s a projection we’ve been trained to believe.
That single misperception distorts how we see influence, potential, and priority.
Same in entrepreneurship. We imagine the risks are bigger than they are.
We believe we need more money, more time, more perfection than we actually do.
But perception isn’t truth. It’s just a loud, shiny echo of our fears.
What you think is big… might not be. And what really matters is often invisible.
Pierre Stanghellini -
HARi.wtf founder
QUESTIONS :
1- What is going to be the next biggest global market in the coming 20 years?
2- what is going to be the second biggest language in the world?
You guess ? ??
Check at the end of this article to see the REAL results. You might be surprised. :-)
1. Perceived Risk > Actual Risk
Most entrepreneurs overestimate the downside. They imagine embarrassment, failure, and financial ruin. In reality, what’s lost is usually comfort, not capital.
We confuse emotional fear with existential danger.
But most so-called risks are just things that bruise the ego, not break the business. Success often hides behind what you wrongly fear most.
The real risk isn’t failing — it’s never starting.
Try This:
Redefine risk as irreversible damage. Most decisions aren’t.
Take smaller bets. Build anti-fragility, not fantasy.
2. Perceived Cost > Real Cost
We’ve been sold the myth: you need funding, a team, a polished brand. You need scale.
The most valuable resources are often free: time, focus, and trust.
Many legendary businesses began in garages, not glass towers.
What costs you more is waiting, not starting.
But most modern businesses started on tight budgets.
Most tools are free. Overhead is often a choice — not a requirement.
Try This:
Cut your launch budget in half. Ship with what you have. Learn with real users, not fake plans.
3. Perceived Readiness > Real Action
We stall. We wait to feel ready.
We think we need more credentials, more clarity, more courage.
Confidence doesn’t come before — it comes after.
The first version will be messy, but it’s a version. Momentum creates belief. Perfection kills it.
But readiness isn’t a precondition. It’s a byproduct of action. You get ready by starting.
Try This:
Do one public thing this week — post, ship, test. Then course-correct in motion.
4. Perceived Success > Lived Success
That founder you admire? Burned out. Trapped in investor demands. Regretful.
A viral launch isn’t the same as a sustainable life.
The founder who “made it” might be miserable. Success you can't feel isn’t success at all.
Perception sells us scale, hype, and exits.
But real success is freedom. Focus. Integrity. Peace of mind.
Try This:
Define success for yourself. Then edit out every goal that doesn’t feed it.
5. Perceived Hard Things > Ignored Essentials
Everyone obsesses over going viral, raising funds, and getting PR.
It’s easier to chase applause than it is to build something useful. But usefulness wins. Foundations don’t trend — but they last.
But they skip the quiet stuff that works: showing up, solving real problems, talking to customers. The invisible grind is where trust is built.
Try This:
Audit your week: How much time did you spend building vs broadcasting?
🔁 Quick Recap
Risk feels big. But most risks are reversible.
Cost looks high. But most launches can be scrappy.
Readiness is a myth. Starting makes you ready.
Success isn’t what it looks like — it’s how it feels.
The hard stuff is usually quiet. But it compounds.
🔥 FINAL DROP One more thought to twist your lens:
We often build strategies based on distorted mental maps — not just of geography, but of opportunity, risk, and value. We chase what looks big, not what is impactful.
We overlook markets, people, or ideas simply because they don't fit our outdated perception of what "success" or "growth" should look like.
That distortion is expensive. It leads to over-investment in noise, under-investment in trust, and the endless pursuit of scale for its own sake.
The entrepreneurs who thrive in the next decade will be those who can see past illusions — and act on what’s real. Perception made it look small. Reality proves it’s massive.
Entrepreneurship is a game of clarity. And clarity comes from subtraction — not spectacle.
Your mind will trick you into overestimating threats and underestimating yourself. The world will show you filters, funding rounds, and flexing founders.
But the real ones?
They’re building quietly. Carefully. Authentically.
So if something feels risky, scary, or hard — ask yourself:
Is this actually dangerous — or just unfamiliar?
Perception fades. Action stays.
Don’t wait for reality to feel safe. Make it yours by moving through the noise.
The map was never the territory.
So here’s your challenge:
Don’t build your next 25 years on outdated projections, loud myths, or someone else’s idea of what matters. Make moves that are quietly powerful, deeply real, and unapologetically yours.
BONUS REALITY CHECK:
🌍 Next biggest global market? Africa. By 2050, it will be home to 2.5 billion people, more than a quarter of the world’s population. It’s projected to have the largest workforce on Earth, with over 60% of its population under 25. Internet access, fintech, and mobile innovation are scaling faster there than almost anywhere else.
🗣️ Second most spoken language? French — projected to reach 750 million speakers by 2050, largely due to African population growth. French is spoken in over 30 African countries, and will overtake English and Arabic as the second most spoken language globally after Mandarin.
It’s not because of cultural exports — it’s demographic momentum, quietly unfolding.
Time to chart your own.
Pierre Stanghellini
→ Let’s connect, drop me a line directly at pierre@hari.wtf .
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About the Creator
Pierre Stanghellini is a creative strategist, systems thinker, and curator of mental rabbit holes. He created Thinkdrop Weekly to feed the brains that don’t want the same old Business advice. If you’re building something bold, beautiful, or strange—this is your corner of the internet.
About HARi.wtf
HARi.wtf is a creative strategy studio for businesses that hate business-as-usual.
Born in Hong Kong, in 2017, we work with restless founders, operators, and teams who’d rather break things thoughtfully than grow them blandly. We don’t do generic decks or bloated strategies—we build clarity, guts, and traction.
From street-level restaurants to global brands, from Asia to Europe, we help shape ideas that move fast when it matters, and slow when it counts.
→ Explore more at hari.wtf
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