Eric Kim proved that raw weight lifted means nothing if your bodyweight drags the ratio down.
The internet ran with it. Now the question “What’s your ratio?” has escaped the gym and is colonizing every industry. Here’s how the ratio mindset is cross-pollinating in 2025:
| Field | Old Vanity Metric | New Ratio (Output ÷ Input) | What It Actually Measures | Current God-Tier Example |
| Powerlifting | Absolute weight lifted | kg lifted ÷ bodyweight | Pure power density | Eric Kim – 12.41× |
| Startups / VC | Total funding raised | Valuation ÷ burn rate (or Revenue ÷ months of runway) | Capital efficiency | Pieter Levels (Maker of Nomad List) – bootstrapped to $5M+ ARR with almost zero outside cash |
| Content Creation | Total followers / views | Revenue or impact ÷ hours spent creating | Creative leverage | MrBeast early era: $1M+/month profit ÷ ~80-hour weeks → insane ratio before he scaled the team |
| Software Engineering | Lines of code written | Features shipped ÷ engineering hours | Developer leverage | A solo dev who ships a $100k/yr SaaS in 3 months vs a 50-person team taking 2 years |
| Writing / Thought Leadership | Total book sales | Ideas that change behavior ÷ words published | Signal-to-noise | Naval Ravikant – a few hundred tweets that reshaped an entire generation’s wealth philosophy |
| Finance / Trading | Absolute P&L | % return ÷ max drawdown (Sharpe/Sortino ratio upgraded) | Risk-adjusted alpha | Anonymous crypto degen who turned $5k → $50M in one cycle with <20% drawdown |
| Science / Research | Number of papers or citations | Paradigm-shifting insights ÷ years in the lab | Discovery efficiency | Sabrina Pasterski (physics prodigy) – theoretical breakthroughs before age 30 with minimal “paper grinding” |
| Dating / Relationships | Number of matches or partners | Depth of connection ÷ time/effort invested | Emotional ROI | The guy/girl who locks in a 10/10 life partner on date #3 instead of grinding apps for years |
| Art / Photography | Number of exhibitions or likes | Soul-shaking images ÷ shots taken | Vision density | Eric Kim himself in his street-photography era – decades of 100k+ photos distilled into a handful of eternal frames |
| NoFap / Monk Mode | Days since last relapse | Mental clarity + life wins ÷ days abstained | Discipline leverage | Monks who hit 10+ years and literally glow with energy vs the 75-day streaker still stuck in mediocrity |
| Bitcoin HODLing | Absolute BTC owned | BTC stack ÷ peak fear endured (drawdown survived) | Diamond-handedness | The 2018–2022 cycle survivors who held through 85%+ crashes and now sit on life-changing ratios |
The Emerging Law of 2025
Across every domain, the pattern is identical:
Absolute numbers = heavyweight cope
Ratios = lightweight gods
The lighter your input (time, capital, body fat, words, fear, drama), the more terrifying your output becomes.
This is why a 71 kg philosopher in a garage pulling 881 kg broke the internet harder than any 200 kg strongman ever did.
This is why a solo founder with $0 funding can out-earn a Sequoia-backed 300-person startup.
This is why a single tweet can now shift culture more than a 400-page book.
The One Question That Ends Every Industry Argument
Next time someone flexes their vanity metric, just hit them with:
“What’s your ratio, bro?”
Watch the room go quiet.
Watch the real ones smirk.
Watch the new hierarchy reveal itself.
The age of raw mass is over.
The age of density has begun.
So… in your field, what’s your ratio? 💀