In “Outliers: The Story of Success,” Malcolm Gladwell provides an interesting read told about very successful people as well as focusing on ambition and intelligence. In this book, the author argues that there are very different stories of success and understanding how people succeed in life entails spending sufficient time in understanding several aspects of their life such as their birthplace, their family or their birth dates. In his 10,000 hours rule, Gladwell suggests that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at any competition, form violin to baseball to Halo (chpt. 2). Nevertheless, there have been several criticisms of this idea. For instance, according to a later publication by David Epstein titled “The Sports Gene,” while accepting that practice is important in sports, he additionally believes that there must be some reason that make Kenyans and Ethiopians to excel in long distance races, Jamaicans to dictate the sprinting races, and for tall people to exhibit similar characteristics in the NBA (p. 53). In contrast, Gladwell cites several examples in his book including Bill Gates and Beatles, whom he explains that their success were not blind luck or innate talent, but their dedicated effort on their chosen crafts. I believe that as a single parent of two girls – 13 and 15 years old -, I can apply this rule to my success since I work at nighttime, and go to school in the day to accomplish my educational needs. While explain my rational for choosing the 10,000 hours rule, I will also explain the Mathew effect and Trouble with Geniuses and the reasons that I found them inapplicable to my case. As an employee, I spend most of my time working on a night shift duty in order to gain more experience on my field of expertise as well as get sustainable pay. During the day, I have to fight with the difficulty of avoiding sleep in order to grasp knowledge. My children understand my struggle, and have assist me achieve my goals in education and employment.
According to the ‘theory’ of the “Trouble with geniuses,” Gladwell with describing Chris Langan who was possible the man with the highest Intelligence Quotient of that time. In this chapter, Gladwell explains that intelligence and the real world success are correlated only to a specific point, after which the other alternate and sometimes immeasurable qualities of the mind set the difference between success and failure (chpt, 4). I partially agree with this argument as the Mathew effect. However, I believe that since the intelligence quotients vary between individuals, quantifying success based on this principle would be very difficult.
As a father of two girls, I believe that as well as I have to attend school and complete my education, I am also obliged to fend for my family and provide for my girls. Therefore, I believe that I should balance my time and spend the maximum time in both places to excel.
Works Cited:
Gladwell, Malcolm. Outliers: The Story of Success. New York City: Little, Brown, 2008, Print.
Epstein, David. The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance. Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated, 2013, Print
