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Outliers

Pink Sheep

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Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, what a cool book.
It discusses how where you come from and your culture around you has an impact on your life and oppertunity.

According to the book there is no natural genious when it comes to ability, excluding high IQ LOGICAL ability. Most successful people simply put an extreme amount of hours into their talent, and the talent was useful.
This doesnt mean there is no difference between people, but in general people learn fairly evenly.

To summarize, work 10 thousand hours, become outlier.
 
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JAJT

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It's been a while since I read the book so maybe I'm forgetting parts of it, but wasn't the book mostly trying to get the point across that outliers are often products of their environments or situations rather than (or in addition to) effort?

I mean, I do recall that extreme amounts of practice do play into it, but the real take-away of the book (if I recall) was stuff like "Bill gates went to school where the very first computer was and had multiple edges in learning it early" or "if you start school/sports late rather than early you'll get more advantages because the teacher/coach will treat you as more intelligent/able than your younger peers so you get more attention which leads to better outcomes" or "Michael Phelps is a genetic swimming god" or "Asians are great at math because their language simplifies counting"

Maybe I need to re-read it but I recall the main take-away largely being "being outlandishly successful is largely outside of your direct control".

While I found the facts/conclusions fascinating (Gladwell is a writer who specializes in "fascinating" material), I can't say I recall enjoying the "excuses" he conveniently provided for others to dismiss genuine effort with.
 

Pink Sheep

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It's been a while since I read the book so maybe I'm forgetting parts of it, but wasn't the book mostly trying to get the point across that outliers are often products of their environments or situations rather than (or in addition to) effort?

I mean, I do recall that extreme amounts of practice do play into it, but the real take-away of the book (if I recall) was stuff like "Bill gates went to school where the very first computer was and had multiple edges in learning it early" or "if you start school/sports late rather than early you'll get more advantages because the teacher/coach will treat you as more intelligent/able than your younger peers so you get more attention which leads to better outcomes" or "Michael Phelps is a genetic swimming god" or "Asians are great at math because their language simplifies counting"

Maybe I need to re-read it but I recall the main take-away largely being "being outlandishly successful is largely outside of your direct control".

While I found the facts/conclusions fascinating (Gladwell is a writer who specializes in "fascinating" material), I can't say I recall enjoying the "excuses" he conveniently provided for others to dismiss genuine effort with.

You're right, that was his point.
I wouldnt make that the point to drive home though. Even though Bill Gatess was the only person in the world with his opportunity, only he could make that time go to learning programming if that was his goal.

If you have a goal right now, and you are willing to work 10 thousand hours to get good at it, look for your golden opportunity, because there is always a one in a million opportunity if you look long enough for it.

The points that Michael Phelps is a genetic swimming god is true, but you can become ALMOST as good with just hard training, and i mean thousands of hours and top tier coaching of course.
The book ignores the guys that are 5 inches away from the eternal glory and fame. Anyone can push through and become amazing at a skill, but without coaching from the best and a life devoted to it, you may not become the legendary guy.
In a business sence, $10,000,000 is still better than $1000, even though its not a billion.
 

LittleWolfie

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I like the aggregation of marginal gains,with the suggestion that it is 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. In fact 100 hours of deliberate practice beats 10,000 hours of non-deliberate practice.

Imagine you want to become awesome at shooting hoops, are you better of having someone to coach you on how to improve your technique, and someone else to run back and forth fetching the ball for you, or are you better off just practicing on your own for more hours?
 
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