The Ten Thousand Hour Rule And Success

In his novel, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell redefines our understanding of success and how one can become successful. One of the most thought provoking concepts that I found interesting was the 10,000 hour rule. It is a customary and conventional belief that if one works hard, then in the long run, they will inevitably become successful. Gladwell uses this popular belief to change how we define success. We often interpret success as hard work, but Gladwell’s main objective in this book is to debunk our preconception that success is derived from hard work and talent. This novel in general, made me reevaluate my decisions and my background to better accommodate my life so that I can be successful in the long run despite what society already has planned for me. Throughout our lives we often take note of the local prodigies and how they are deemed successful by the media, their parents and even ourselves. Gladwell helps us understand these outliers and exactly how they become one, not because of their talent nor their hard work but because of “hidden advantages” that they are given. In Chapter 2 of Outliers, Gladwell takes into account the lives of Bill Gates, owner of Microsoft, and the Beatles. Before he even begins, he juxtaposes these two outliers and their success in the future to show us that there is not a distinct person who becomes an outlier and that an outlier can be anyone, from any background. Bill Gates, for instance, had a tremendous amount of opportunities given to him by his parents, his local school, and even where he lived. Gladwell uses the lives of Bill Gates and the Beatles to reveal these “hidden advantages” that they had yet, we as a society only take into account their immediate actions that led them to their successful and luxurious lives. I chose this section of the novel because it stood out to me the most of how I define success. Throughout our lives as teenagers, we are often seen as incapable of ever reaching the standards of success that society sets out for us yet, Gladwell changes that. Outliers, in general, makes us think and evaluate these hidden advantages that we possess that can help us become successful in the future.