I don't think it's smart at all to position yourself in bucket 1.

There's a reason there are maybe a few hundred professional marathon runners in the world vs tens of thousands of professional mathematicians. Bucket 1 is basically an "amusement for the upper classes" type of deal. Any field that goes in that direction would have to shrink down massively.

It also devalues the field in my opinion from something really profound with actual impact in the world to a somewhat vain leisure activity. (basically going back to gentleman scientists) But I know other people would see it exactly the opposite way.