I see systems that are design for his success. Take away his systems, I think his probability of success would drastically decrease. His systems set his expectation. I'm sure his school consistently produce high calibre people like him and even the gym that he went to after school. I'm pretty sure if he had siblings, they would also go to a top tier school. I say that to say that the take away from this is not about doing abnormal things but being in a system that expect superior performance.
I think the goal is to seek out these systems and become apart of them for our given endeavors.
You're certainly right. I'm not trying to pretend like I'm some kind of super-person. We had advantages: my mom was a gymnastics coach, I was in a great school system, high expectations were placed on me. We had disadvantages: we were immigrants, lower middle class growing up and neither parent had any experience with the US college application process.
I think Warren Buffet says it best: "Take me as an example. I happen to have a talent for allocating capital. But my ability to use that talent is completely dependent on the society I was born into. If I'd been born into a tribe of hunters, this talent of mine would be pretty worthless. I can't run very fast. I'm not particularly strong. I'd probably end up as some wild animal's dinner."
I think the goal is to seek out these systems and become apart of them for our given endeavors.