I’ve never been a hard worker. I see the value in hard work and I also believe that diligence is a virtue, but I’ve never really subscribed to the nose to the grind stone mentality. My parents, teachers, grandparents, and almost every adult figure in my life have tried to persuade me towards fallowing a hard working lifestyle; some have had little success but none have been nearly as convincing as Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. In this book Gladwell tells stories of people who have lives out of the ordinary; or in other words outliers to society. Some of these people consist of Bill Gates, Robber Barons, Bill Joy, Airplane Pilots, A man with an IQ of over 160, and many more, all who have had incredible and often well know lives; The interesting thing that Gladwell tells is how these people became rich, famous, or in some other way successful and why, or sometimes more importantly, why not. The author uses many, many real world examples, both humors and serious tones, and an anthology of respectable observations in order to argue that it is a mixture of willingness to work hard, and an amazing opportunity that allows ordinary, or extraordinary people to become outliers.
I highly recommend this book.
Thank you for reading,
Dustin Trembath
Concise and interesting response. I agree with everything you said...and would also add that toward the 2nd half of the book Gladwell seems to shift his argument to how we all need to see what opportunities we have been given.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I am dissatisfied with my career as a teacher because of the limits of my ability to affect the system of public education and because of the low pay which is inequitable for the time I put in. But rather than seeing my situation as an obstacle to happiness, _Outliers_ pushed my thinking to, "What are my unique combinations of experiences and opportunities that allow me to do this better than anyone else."
So, D-dog, what are YOUR unique combinations of experiences and opportunities that allow you to find your own path to success?