The whole secret to our success is being able to con ourselves into believing that we’re going to change the world because statistically we are unlikely to do it.

The line frames ambition as a kind of necessary self-deception. Peters suggests that outsized goals—“changing the world”—function less as literal predictions than as motivational myths that push people and organizations to attempt difficult work despite long odds. By acknowledging the statistical unlikelihood of world-changing impact, the quote also punctures heroic business rhetoric: success often depends on sustaining belief and energy in the face of probable failure. The “con” is not fraud against others but a psychological strategy—an internal narrative that enables persistence, risk-taking, and creativity. In this reading, the value lies in the striving: aiming for transformative impact can produce meaningful, if more modest, results.