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The, Outliers, By Malcolm Gladwell

Decent Essays

“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.” (Jim Rohn) Malcolm Gladwell’s, Outliers, published in 2008, makes arguments about what it means to be successful, and how one can become successful. Gladwell specifically mentions the “10,000 Hour Rule” which states that anyone who wants to reach a definite level of mastery must perform 10,000 hours of practice until that level is reached. Some believe this rule to be invalid as those who are successful are born talented. Though I recognize that some people are born naturally gifted, I still contend that anyone who wants to become great at what they do, needs to do supplementary amounts of practicing as it utilizes one’s potential to the fullest as Gladwell …show more content…

Gracyn, always having relied on her natural ability, was unaware of the hard work and practicing it would take for her to succeed and make one of the teams. She began putting in much more effort, time, and practice. Consequently, she made the Ohio State University cheer team. Success is the initial ability plus the extra practice one is willing to put in to achieve it. Extensive practicing leads to these behaviors becoming a way of life. There’s an old Latin saying “Repetitio mater studiorum est.” which translates to “Repetition is the mother of all learning.” Repetition is the key to proper practice as it is the best way for a person to learn. The more a behavior repeats, it becomes habitual. There is a moment where you become so good at something that you don’t have to think about what you are doing, it comes naturally. A basic example of this is tying your shoes. We learned at a very young age how to tie our shoes. We kept practicing and practicing until the point where it doesn’t take any thought of what you are doing. Natural talent paired with repetition creates a natural success.
Practice is beneficial only if the person genuinely is interested in what they are doing. Raymond T. Hightower, president of WisdomGroup software company states, “The elite don’t just work harder than everybody else. At some point the elites fall in love with practice to the point where they want to do little else.” Those people

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