Outliers Review
Book Written by Malcom Gladwell
There were a few things I loved about this book. One of those being that we learn about who we are. Gladwell talks about how "the values of the world we inhabit and the people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on who we are." I would have to agree that the world around us effects how we live, our choices we make, and why we find success.
In the book, Gladwell does a serious study of different people and what factors lead them to success. Yes some of them were geniuses, but with things such as cut-off dates for teams, and society affected by the generations, these people were able to discover their success. He states, "we cling to the idea that success is a simple function of individual merit and that the world in which we all grow up and the rules we choose to write as a society don't matter at all." In reality, these things do matter and they change who we truly are. Towards the end, the author writes about the differences between American and Chinese learning. Some of which proves that Chinese cultures have a more simplified learning path than Americans. They can easily learn how to count to 40 as toddlers, while Americans are still learning how to count to 10. To think that our world we grow up in and the rules don't matter would absolutely be an understatement.
Another main idea I took away from the book was “practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good." We often are taught things such as "practice makes perfect" and it truly does. Success can be found by us practicing what ever it may be. However, we are always practicing something and something will turn into a success.
This leads me to the next thought from the book which states, “if you work hard enough and assert yourself, and use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires.” How true this may be. If only we try it. I think we often forget that our choices determine our destiny and outcomes that we will receive.
Furthermore, there's a Chinese proverb found in the book which states, “no one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich.”
Our effort truly determines our success. In a world that totally affects us, we can find success based on who we are and who we will become.
I would recommend this book to anyone who:
wants to learn about the history of success.
wants to learn about plane crashes and why some fail and others do not.
has the desire to find success in their life.
has an interest in research and studying success.
Hopefully, you will find some inspiration from this book as I did. Let me know if you read this book! I would like to know what you took away from these studies about success.
