“Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell
Zeeshan Wasim
“Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell is an inspiring look for successful people throughout history that will provide people with a new outlook on hard work. Outliers also aims to alter the thought-process according to which people view their personal goals and successes in life. Right off the bat, Outliers is a book that is for anyone who needs motivation to get out in the world and achieve success.
Thought-provoking books that change the way we perceive things in life are always welcomed by all readers. Outliers focuses on enticing the readers to analyze their individual paths towards success and creativity.
Malcolm Gladwell is a masterful writer and in this publication, he challenges the universally accepted fact that the success we achieve in our careers is solely based on the amount of hard work that we put in. Instead, Gladwell focuses on historical references and cites statistics to analyze the various and apparently invisible elements that contributed towards the major achievements of the most successful scientists, business people, thinkers and artists.
Simply put, the author states that the talent and hard work of people are not always enough to constitute success. In the book, the writer explains in an engaging manner that the opportunities which presented themselves to the “Outliers” in the past had as much to do with the coincidence of time and place, social connections and birthdates as they do with talent.
However, these external factors alone do not create Outliers. Individual contribution is essential too and Gladwell hypothesizes that in order to be an expert or a master in any field or career, a person must have devoted approximately 10,000 hours or 10 years to that field. In much simpler words, the two primary keys to success as per the lessons in this book are the hard work that you put in and the opportunity to work hard. If you want to be a competitive swimmer, you have to train yourself for it. Then if you are ready to get trained but unless you have a swimming pool nearby to train in, you will not become the competitive swimmer that you aim to be. Hence, the opportunities which allow us to work hard are equally as important as the work itself.
Subjects in this publication are individuals and groups that a lot of us consider as the epitome of success, such as the founder of tech-giant Microsoft, Bill Gates, the physicist Robert Oppenheimer, the very famous band – The Beatles, and countless others. Each story in the book is compelling, inspiring and fascinating.
To anyone, who is searching for motivation to work harder at the things that he/she loves to do, this book is a must-read. The insights that the readers will get from this book will allow them to comprehend and spot opportunities for success and will allow them to make the most out of them. However, all else aside, the true stories presented as examples in the book are interesting enough to consider Outliers as a worthy read.
The writer is a digital marketer, entrepreneur, columnist, content writer, and a business administration graduate from the Institute of Management Sciences (IMSciences), Peshawar. He can be reached at: srkgothambat@gmail.com. He also shares insights on Twitter @ZeeshanWasim8.
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