Monday, September 12, 2011
What is Success? by Michael Napolitano
In all reality, Outliers is about how the superstars of our time our chosen, not how gifted they are. It is not necessarily about how talented one is, but based on whether one is good at sports and has a certain date of birth. Outliers shocked me because I am a good soccer player, but I was born in October. I just wonder how much that effected my development of the sport. Could I have been so much better if I had been born earlier in the year? As far as the other idea Outliers described, the 10,000 hours, I think Jerrod put it well writing “What exactly does 10,000 hours mean? It means that nothing is free.” I would like to add that 10,000 hours does not have to be as grueling as Jerrod describes it. Look at how happy Bill Gates and Joy where to program. It can be, if you find something you enjoy it can take you places. In other words, hard work can be as easy as playing a videogame, if you find the right topic for yourself. The only problem with this is timing. Just because one can do complex mathematics, does not mean they will be rich in our time. However, if they had lived back in the renaissance time, this feat might have been rewarded greatly. One cannot just dedicate himself or herself to a job they love and get rich in every outcome. There has to be a great demand for the job during that time period. So, this leads us to the unfortunate reality that becoming rich is greatly correlated to luck. Gladwell really put out an interesting set of ideas. It has made me change my ideas of the famous and those who are not. And when the next Mark Zukerburg emerges from the world, I think I might look into his life and find those prefect events that made him who he is.
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Personally I have read this story before I have known about the elusive 10,000 hours to master a subject or discipline. When I read about this, this is what I attribute to the rags to riches stories. Ragged Dick was about the rags to riches story and the Horatio Alger piece talked about how there are other factors than merit in determining success for rags to riches story. These 10,000 hours to mastery is why I believe in the rags to riches story. If someone puts in this amount of time into something they will get a solid return on their investment. I understand that there are other factors such as race, gender, wealth, opportunities, and society in the rags to riches. If that person puts in enough time into what they love then someone will see their merit and reward them from it. I think that they Ragged Dick story was flawed in the fact that a child preformed a heroic act and was then set for life. I’m not saying that this doesn’t happen but the odds are slim. The story would have been more realistic if it started with a kid that worked hard for what he loved and was able to make something of himself. To me this is the real rags to riches story. Outliers made great points about having to work for what you want. I was raised with the mantra “I can do anything if I try”. I believe that this is why I am so passionate about the rags to riches story because hard work brings reward. It is how I live my life and how I have motivation to perform tasks such as school, jobs and other activities that I am not super passionate about.
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