Outliers: Is it all about opportunities?

You always wondered why some people are successful and some others not? , you ask yourself if you got enough talent to be one? Or maybe it’s all about money? , these and additional questions can be answered with the book “Outliers” by Malcom Gladwell. He studies and explains the facts that help you to be a victorious and triumphant person. To support his thesis he puts a lot of examples of important people in the actuality, with a lot of fortunes and intelligence.
Outliers are talented persons who have been given opportunities and take advantage of them; this is the principal aspect of the book. There are too many reasons that could take you from an ordinary person to an outlier, like the luck, the environment that you are involved in, the help from your parents, etc. For example the case of Bill Gates, he created the huge and important computer software “Microsoft” and it was just a stroke of luck.

Also he talked about the key of everything, the "10.000-Hour Rule”, based on a study by Anders Ericsson, which is about practicing something specific for almost 10.000 hours, that means 20 hours of work a week for 10 years. One example from the book are “The Beatles”, during performing and practices they spend more than 10.000 hours, that was the key made them so talent and famous.

A lot of people think that if you have a high intellectual level (IQ) you will be successful, and the ones that don’t have it, lose their hope, but Gladwell prooves that this is not true. He gave the example of a guy named Christopher Langan, he had an IQ of 195 but he wasn’t in the right environment, he ended up working as a famer and didn’t took advantage of his intelligence.

In conclusion the book makes you realize, understand and think about how your life is now, and the changes you can apply in your future to do it right and better. If you think your time passed already and you don´t have the chances, maybe you should help your child to be successful when he grows up, and starting with the 10.000 hours of practicing and you will feel grateful.

Also, even if you don´t care about all these things, is an interesting book to read, because you can know life histories about famous and important people.

BY MABEL GOMEZ AND MELANIE SALGUEIRO