Essay On Outliers The Story Of Success

Many people, like me, believe success generally presents itself in one of two ways, luck or hard work. Some of us get lucky and are born into a family of wealth and that pushes us ahead of our peers on the success rate while others spend hours of continuous practice to excel them beyond the average. Up until now I always believed success was what people made of their own situations. In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell argues that this belief is only partially true. Many factors contribute to making a person an outlier through success, such as, uncontrollable opportunities or factors, hard work, community ties, practice, patronage and parentage. From my experience, I found that true success lies within the midst of all these

Gladwell uses the example of hockey players birthdays to show how the more successful players birthdays fell in the month of January, February, and March. They could not control the day or month they were born, but it gave them a slight advantages and better opportunities, just like my coach gave me an uncontrollable opportunity. Attending a small school made it difficult for me to make my own name, especially since I have older siblings that graduated a few years before me. My brothers set high expectations for me with school and sports. My brother balanced playing football and soccer along with his schoolwork and I was determined to walk in his footsteps. I planned my freshman schedule out to play soccer, the sport I grew up playing, and remain as a stellar student. However, my intentions were quickly altered when I was told I was becoming the kicker on the high school football team. This uncontrollable opportunity was unheard of in my tight knit town. Females were not allowed or accepted in the football realm, but I was an exception. My coach saw potential and made the decision to step outside the norms and ask me to be a part of an opportunity that most females will never get the chance to

Gladwell refers to major successful figures that we can recognize, such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, and shows how their family and friends supported them during or even before they became successful. Similar to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, I was surrounded by family and friends who set me up for success. My parents went out of their way to make sure I would be successful. They were always buying me new cleats and hiring personal trainers to come in and show me exercises to make me a better a kicker. I was very fortunate to have parents who wanted me to be successful almost as much I was wanted to be. In contribution, I surrounded myself with a great group of teammates and coaches who thrived on watching me become the best kicker I could be. Many nights my placement holder would spend hours working with me after practice until we got the perfect hold and kick multiple times in a row. My teammates and coaches cheered me on even when I disappointed myself. Occasionally, I would miss an extra point and come off the field upset, angry, or disappointed, but my team was there to support me. They told me what happened, how to fix it, and encouraged that I do not give up. Without my parentage and patronage my football career would not be as successful as it was