What It Takes to Become a Success: Outliers

If people work hard, focus, and are disciplined, they will succeed in the future. This has become a universal idea taught by parents, teachers, and peers. People have passed down this idea to the younger generations and they chose to live by this moral that makes sense. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell debunks the universal idea that working hard will allow people to play hard and get further in life. Gladwell eliminates the traditional ideas of success by showing that opportunities, family background, and being born at the “right” time are actually what lead to success.

Occasionally, it is important to be born during certain times of the year in order to become better at a task that is being performed. In other words, people may have advantages depending on the time of the year they are born. They practice more for a sport or get further help for school. Gladwell says that “A boy who turns ten on January 2, then, could be playing alongside someone who does not turn ten until the end of the year…a twelve month gap in age represents enormous differences in physical maturity”(24). What he means is that a young boy born in January may have a greater physical advantage than a boy born in December when it comes to playing hockey. This example can be applied to any other sport. When the child starts conditioning at 6, his friend will be 5 and still to young to condition giving the older kid the advantage to play better. Every country arranges the cut off dates differently according to the sport and the season it is played in. Gladwell says, “The cutoff date for almost all non-school baseball leagues in the United States is July 31, with the result that more major league players are born in August than any other month”(26). If players are...

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...hood and a supportive family. He was able to finish school even though he tried poising and killing 2 of his professors. His parents supported him and they taught him how to get what he wanted. Family is such an important factor to success because with out moral support, one can only do so much.

Gladwell demonstrates that hard work does not get people to high places but a series of opportunities and other factors will. What people have grown up to think about hard work is not true and it is demonstrated through these various examples. People will not be able to succeed, practice, and master their skills without opportunities, timing, devotion, and moral support. There is no such thing as “rags to riches” because those people would not be rich unless they had opportunities in their life. Remember that with out these key factors, people will never be able to succeed.