Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story Of Success

Outlier is defined as “something that is situated away from or classified differently from a main or related body” or “a statistical observation that is markedly different in value from the others of the sample”, which is the beginning to Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success. The meaning of outlier itself in relation to success symbolizes those who stand out with exceptional rates of success. The book does not necessarily cover how to become an outlier (in fact it first deams becoming an outlier is nearly impossible) but more which are the factors that have contributed to certain outliers in history on a broad spectrum of hockey players to the beatles to even the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates.

Malcolm Gladwell’s book examines the contributing factors of high leveled success by looking beyond common beliefs. First of all, viewing the key element of an opportunity making way for success like the good nutrition the tallest tree receives from the sun and good soil. For example, Roger Barnesly, a psychologist, suggested good player are born in January, February, and March. However, Gladwell views this phenomenon as a difference in strength due to age as an almost eleven year old is stronger than a nearly ten year old. In most success stories an innate talent needs to be practiced and encouraged. Gladwell refers to this need of practice as the ten thousand hour rule done by Bill Jay,

In his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell examines the reason why some people are anomalously more successful than others. One would normally think that success is achieved through intelligence, however Gladwell squashes that notion. Throughout his book, one sees that relying on only intelligence can sometimes be detrimental to one’s success, especially in chapters three and four, where one man (who possessed an extremely high IQ) was forced to drop out of college due to a lack of money and social skills. Gladwell argues that, while these outliers can seem to be more successful due to mere intelligence and skill, in reality, they have achieved it through a highly interlinked mix of background, practice habits, and legacy.

In this chapter, various psychological skills are addressed, but they are presented in a straightforward and approachable manner that is beneficial for athletes that are new to the content. Chapter 5 focuses on areas outside of more traditional sport, including the military and individuals training for triathlons or ultramarathons. Primarily, this chapter discusses goal setting and other methods of preparation, such as imagery and mindfulness. Michael Jordan is the topic of Chapter 6, “Air Comeback”. In this chapter, Afremow breaks down Jordan’s hall of fame induction speech, pointing out each of the seven L’s each time they are

There are always issues, in every country, continent, and place throughout the world. An issue can range from something small, like losing a sports game to a much larger scale, for example, the next World War. The novel Outliers:The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell inhibits many issues, specifically it discusses the Matthew Effect which demonstrates how the successful get more successful while the latter get left behind, comparing this to hockey players in Canada. Also, it demonstrates the differing opportunities given to religious minorities in New York City, explicitly Jewish lawyers. Furthermore, aggression in the southern parts of the United States is explored, which relates to the treacherous riots because of police brutality towards racial minorities.

Prompt: Write an essay that defends or challenges or qualifies Gladwell’s assertion that “if you work hard enough and assert yourself, and you use your mind and imagination, you can shape the world to your desires” (Gladwell 151).

Outliers: The Story of Success is an insightful book and provides many different outlooks and perspective on life. Outliers was originally published by Little, Brown and Company in November of 2008. I recently read it and enjoyed it. It compiled various interesting stories that kept me craving more. I would recommend Outliers to any teen or adult that would like a different perspective on life and enjoy any in depth or statistical analysis.

During the Kennedy era, many Americans saw Jacqueline Kennedy only as the wife of the president who did not know much; however, not only was she a faithful wife and First Lady, but she was also a very intelligent magazine editor with a very interesting life. In the New York Times bestselling novel called The Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell challenges the way that success is typically viewed by introducing the idea of an “outlier.” Gladwell defines an outlier as “something that is situated away from or classed differently from a main or related body (Gladwell 1).” Throughout the book, he goes on to explain that success is much more than hard work; it also has to do with what he calls “The 10,000-Hour Rule” or “The Matthew Effect.”

Typically used for college sports, redshirting is now being applied to the American education system to kindergartners. In the book “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell, redshirting (being held back a year to have some sort of advantage) happens when Gladwell goes into the sport of Canada: hockey. Gladwell continued on about redshirting by comparing all the players on the team and how all/most of their birthdays were in January, February, and March. He went on to explain that players with “cutoff” birthdays were going to be “ahead of the curve” because the will have the advantage if they are redshirted. This is not fair to the younger and maybe more talented kids for team selection.

The species Homo sapiens belongs to the class Mammalia. Humans are the most advanced and structured species the world has ever seen. The human race is the outlier of nature. However, we were not created the way we appear today. We evolved to survive strenuous circumstances and became products of our environment. We were molded by a hostile, ever changing world to survive and eventually become the innovative society we are today. The human race would not be as it is today if the earth was not an ever changing environment. Just as the human race owes its success to the extenuating circumstances of the world, Malcolm Gladwell constantly reiterates in Outliers The Story of Success that humanity’s individual outliers owe their success to their

The American dream gives hope to many people striving to be successful despite not having a wealthy upbringing. The goal is surrounded by the idea that coming from a poor background does not determine the quality of one’s future and with enough effort and grit, one can achieve greatness. This dream was sold to the early immigrants of America that believed with this young nation, the opportunities and chance of success were plentiful, and anyone could have a better future in America. One of these people was Benjamin Franklin that ran away to America to have a better future in his printing business. Franklin is one of the nation's founding fathers and is considered one of the men that lived the original American dream.

Let’s look more in depth at the visual aspect of decision making. Visual information is critical for any team. The visual (spatial) learning system is when a person (i.e. athlete) prefers learning through images, colors, pictures and maps to gather information. Cueing and priming are key features in the sport realm that are integral in visual attention (Decision Making in Sports, 2004). When an athlete is confident of their opponent’s next move, their

Vince Lombardi once said, “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.” Most people throughout the world strive for success in whatever they may be doing, and along with this, many reasons contribute to why success is achieved or not. If a person does not succeed, they may automatically blame themselves because of their level of strength. Others may blame themselves for not having enough knowledge about what they are trying to succeed at. The real reason that people may not succeed, however, is their low level of will, determination, and happiness. Both knowledge and strength combine to help a person succeed because of the will and determination that

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in, and day out.” (R. Collier). Success cannot be obtained overnight. To gain success, certain elements are required, such as time, effort, hard work, and experience. Tom Hanks has all of those elements, that is why he is such a great actor. Hanks may be a very well known, and very successful actor, but how did he reach this great triumph? In the book Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell, there is a theory called The 10,000 Hour Rule (35). In this theory, Gladwell says if someone spends 10,000 hours minimum working and practicing, they will become an expert in that field (38-40). Tom Hanks is a successful actor because he spent 10,000 plus hours working towards his goal.

Visualization is a common term used to describe guided imagery or the process of forming images in our mind like pictures or moves, images recreating our best performances, and the way it feels to perform just the way we want it to. These images can be visual, kinesthetic- how our body feels, tactile-how it feels to the touch, auditory-how it sounds, even olfactory-what we smell. Using mind power we can call upon these images over and over, enhancing skill through repetition rehearsal. The mind and body can become more prepared to actually perform the skill, and can improve both physical and mental reactions in certain situations. The developing athletes, who make the fastest progress and who ultimately become their best, make extensive use of mental imagery. They use it daily, as a means of directing what will happen in training, and as a way of pre-experiencing their best competition performances. Mental imagery often starts out simply, as you think though your goals, your moves, and your desired competitive performances.