Bartlett borrows and extends Seth Godin's idea of the purple cow: in a field full of ordinary cows, the only one that gets noticed is a purple one. Remarkable, by its literal definition, means worth remarking on. Ordinary things do not get remarked upon. He applies this to personal and professional development with unusual directness. The goal is not to be good. The goal is to be the best at something specific, something valuable, something that makes the people who encounter your work feel compelled to tell others about it. The path to remarkable is almost always through narrowing, not broadening. Being good at many things produces a mediocre generalist. Being extraordinary at one specific, valuable thing produces someone who cannot be ignored. Bartlett points to the mistake most people make with content, products, and personal brands: they try to be good enough for everyone. Good enough for everyone means remarkable for no one. The people who build remarkable careers and businesses pick the narrowest possible definition of what they are the best at, and then go all in. This is uncomfortable because it requires saying no to many things in order to say an extreme yes to one thing. But the alternative is the invisible middle: decent at many things, essential to none.