My pops used to always tell me to 'play the game.' It always made me insane. As an immigrant, my pops learned to do exactly that, and he's way less political or even out there as I am, so that worked for him and didn't feel like a huge compromise. He was also part of a different economy, a different time in history, a different social mix. I remember losing it in high school or college when he said that, a bit of a breaking point... I think it had to do with cutting my long hair to please an authority figure.
My deepest conviction, for some reason, was that being who I am is not something to compromise on, being a better version of who I am, is.
The question to me is, do we really even want to work, play, or commune with the people who will only accept us if we are a carbon copy of them? Why 'play the game' the gatekeepers have set up? Why curtsy when we can create?
I'd argue there is way more room to roam, be creative, and play our own game when we build projects based on models that don't revere lottery logic. The tortoise and the hare, y'all!
I'd take steady over fast, any day.