Recently I finished reading Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outlier. I have been a fan of his works after reading the Tipping Point and Blink. Here is a list of 3 tips taken from the book that I found to be especially motivational:
-
Hard to do it alone
Many successful people have had opportunities or help from others. Bill Gates had parents who were part of the “rotary club.” They were also rather affluent parents. Therefore, he had access to program computers before computers were available to the general public.
-
“Practical intelligence” is more important than being a genius
Psychologist Robert Sternberg coined this term, which includes ideas like knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum effect. For example if you knew more than a professor telling him, “I think your theory is a remarkable one. I was also thinking of another angle. Could we discuss it because I would love to hear from your expertise.” would be far more telling than “I have a better way of doing it.” Einstein made it big and so did Oppenheimer. But Chris Langen who had perhaps a higher IQ did not reach full potential.
-
Practice does make perfect
According to Gladwell, in numbers, perfection/expertise is estimated at 10,000 hours of practice. Bill Gates spent every free minute in the computer lab. In 1960 Beatles practiced in Hamberg 106 nights, averaging five or more nights of practicing for hours a week.
