Game theory explains why improving yourself rarely fixes your outcomes. People keep treating their own skills and discipline as a dominant variable because it's the one they can consciously control. They end up running never-ending optimizations but leave the whole structure around them untouched. Suddenly, they are the shiniest object in the room, but it gets them nowhere. That's because a diamond in the mud is still part of the mud. Cleaning it and putting it back to where you found it changes absolutely nothing. Hence, you must change the structure. Swipe the whole room clean; toss out the junk. Ask yourself which environment converts what you already have into a return and what it would cost to move there. Don't spend a decade improving yourself while covered in filth. The structure around you either works for you or against you. There is no middle ground.