The Domain of Competence
Win attention by displaying high value in a game everyone can score
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 60%
The Domain of Competence is a positioning model: you do not need to be high-value in general, only visibly high-value in one arena your target audience can interpret. A good dancer walks into a club and their moves are the lead generator; a strong person is legible to anyone who has ever tried to lift something heavy; a CrossFitter who rises to the top of their gym is high-value to people competing in that gym. Instagram is the universal version of this, because follower counts and polished photos are a game almost everybody plays and can score at a glance. The value need not reflect your genuine worth; it just needs to be a quick, interpretable signal that gets you through the door so the real interaction can begin.
Origin
Chris Williamson and the PropaneFitness hosts develop this on Modern Wisdom's Relationships 104 as the theory underneath the Instagram Funnel, using Usain Bolt, strongman and CrossFit as illustrations of legible competence.
Core principles
- 01Far more people are compatible with you than you get exposure to
- 02You do not need universal value, just interpretable value in one domain
- 03People are drawn to competence they can personally understand and score
- 04Instagram works because it is a game almost everyone plays and can read
- 05Present yourself in the best light and let good prospects notice
How to run it
- 1
Choose an interpretable domain
Pick an arena the people you want to attract either compete in or can easily understand, such as strength, dancing, or a specific sport.
Pro tip If you like people who do CrossFit, get good at CrossFit and spend time in that gym.
- 2
Rise to visible standing
Get good enough to be near the top of that domain so your value is obvious to anyone inside or watching it.
- 3
Make the value legible
Prefer domains outsiders can score quickly, like the Olympics or strongman where everyone can grasp the achievement, over obscure skills only insiders appreciate.
Watch out Legibility matters more than depth: a domain no one can interpret generates no attraction, however impressive.
- 4
Default to Instagram if you have no domain
If you lack a standout arena, use Instagram, the game almost everyone plays, where followers and polished photos act as universal social proof.
Pro tip Curate the feed so the signal is clean; this is your fallback domain of competence.
In the wild
The hosts describe someone who is a genuinely good dancer walking into a nightclub. Because everyone present understands and can score dancing, the moves themselves become the lead generator: people notice, and that interpretable competence opens conversations without any pickup line. The same person might have no other obvious high-value domain, but in that room, on that axis, they are visibly at the top.
→ Attention and openers generated purely by being legibly excellent in one understood domain.
Common mistakes
Chasing value no one can interpret
Excellence in a domain outsiders cannot score generates no attraction. The signal has to be legible to your target audience to open the door.
Marketing yourself poorly by default
Many compatible people never get a chance simply because their value is invisible; failing to present any interpretable signal is itself the error.
Is it for you?
Best for
People who feel invisible in dating and want a deliberate way to make their value legible to the right audience.
Not ideal for
Those seeking deep long-term compatibility signals rather than fast top-of-funnel attraction.
From the transcript
“everybody needs a domain of competence in which they look like they have a particularly high degree of value. That basically gets you through the…”
“those people are competing within a domain that other people can interpret”
From the episode
Relationships 104 - How To Be Single - #059
How To Be Single