Outlier Book Review. The outliers are people who went off the chart, which does not agree with most data. Refer to graph.
Outlier is about how successful people happen to be successful. But, of course, chance and opportunity alone are not enough; it comes with hard practice, when and where you are born and cultural affairs.
Kids born earlier in the year grew up to have more chances in Canadian Hockey due to their physical aptness. They get more training from the age of 6. With more training and playing time, they get into better teams and continue to drill skills deeper than their peers.
Bill Gates and Bill Joy started learning computers from such an early age. While they had access, most of the time, it was circumstantial and requires deep work. Gladwell argued that we need to practise (hard) for 10,000 hours to achieve mastery.
Pianists play the same song, again and again, perfecting it with every round. As they get better, they play more difficult songs.
To practise 10,000 hours, you need to be well off. Not caring about living, side jobs and other needs are met.
Poor kids play by themselves. They invent their games without restriction and make up the rules as they play along. Their parents don't care about their free time, mostly playing with themselves.
Rich parents groomed their kids to follow schedules. The parents care a lot about how to spend their free time. So they played structured games, like football practise, and piano lessons, more geared towards learning and refining motor skills.
Being born a genius alone does not equip you to handle the world. Instead, kids with better support to deal with the community and the real world have a greater chance of success. They need to be assertive, question authority and talk to people.
Chris Langan blames the world for everything that was failing in his life. He couldn’t assert himself, stick to the authority’s decision and accept his fate. What Langan went through was brutal, he didn’t live a normal child life. He had to fight the world with his hands tied to his back.
Flom was a successful lawyer. However, what made him successful wasn’t because he was hardworking and asserted himself, it was the opportunity that was presented to him that was set up for his success.
The fault of the plane crash in 1993 by Korea Air was not due to technical difficulty but communication barrier between the pilot and first officer. Every country has their Power Distance Index (PDI). The bigger the number, the further and more respectable of authorities.
Paddy field, if you wake 360 days before dawn, it's impossible for you not to succeed. So wake up early, and work hard. Culturally people who plant paddy fields are hardworking. The more they work on their crops, the more it prospers. Similar to our lives, the more we put into it, the more it works in our favour.
No one who can rise before dawn 360 days a year fails to make his family rich.
KIPP School in the Bronx was for the poor people in New York, where kids come from broken homes and single mothers. What made KIPP special was the hours of the learning experience by any other kids in the US. KIPP focus 1.5 hours on math & science daily, which rises to 2 hours in grade 5. The most compared to any kids.
Put more hours into learning. Focus intently on the problem at hand and do it deliberately.
If everyone worked hard and was given the same opportunity, there’s a likelihood most of us would succeed as well.
Therefore, Success is not only laboured by hard work. It has to come with chances.
Success = Ability (Hardwork) X Opportunity (Chance).
