Outliers... How important is success, anyway?

I recently finished Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, which I got a hold of after reading Blink. Outliers is a book about success and how some have achieved it, but its maybe not what you think. Its not about the people themselves and their personalities that make them successful. Bill Gates wasn't incredibly successful just because he was smart and determined. This book is about the circumstances that successful people come from and the series of happenings, events, and opportunities that also allow them to become successful. It's about systems and timing and location, etc.

It may sound like this way of looking at success i sdownplaying someone's drive and ability over their circumstances. It is. It very much is. One example I can explain from the book quickly deals with hockey players. A great deal of the professional hockey players in the NHL are born in January. Weird, huh? Not really. The cutoff date for little league hockey in the US and Canada is January 1st. Ah ha? If you were born in January you will be older than a kid born in December trying out for the same spot. You will have almost a year's worth of growth and development on them. That's why so many hockey players that play professional are born in January. They got the lucky draw on birthdays.

This bit is right in the beginning of the book. After reading this I felt a moment of panic. My son was just born this past December. I thought, "Oh crap! What else has a January cut-off!? Is my son at a disadvantage now?" The more I made my way through the book, though, the less panicked I was. I realized that there's a lot about "success" that one can't even control at all. For instance... the Great Depression caused families at the time to stop having kids. A little less than a decade later, the public school systems, especially in big cities, had less kids per class than normal. Less kids per class means better teaching. Better teaching means better education..... You can follow how it works. So worrying about all the circumstances I would have to consider for my son to be successful isn't a good use of time or energy. All I can do is try my best to set him up for success.

This book doesn't say that it is ONLY circumstances and coincidence that leads to success. Its in combination with people willing to put forth effort and maybe have the smarts, the talent, and drive to make the most of the circumstances they've been given. But success is not determined by these factors alone. Other outside forces must be involved. Often times, a little bit of success or "luck" will allow an individual to have another, even better, opportunity. From that opportunity, even more opportunities arise.

I think it is in this idea we see where much of the civil unrest in our society comes from. When those of us willing to work hard put in the time and effort needed and feel that we are smart enough to be successful at a high level don't see ourselves becoming successful like others, we ask why. Without having to do a lot of digging in to that question, the word "opportunity" comes to mind. If you are from the middle and low classes financially, there are often less opportunities available to build upon. Yes, certainty there are some, but its very difficult for individuals in this country to move from one class to a higher one. There are tons of different reasons for this and there probably are many books written about it. I am not advocating for anarchy or to tear down the classes. But it is good to recognize what's really in front of you, or not. Certain circumstances tend to breed more opportunity, some breed less. That's just the truth.I'll leave it at that for now.

This book also discusses the ideas around the 10,000 hour rule as well. If you aren't aware if it, there is a "rule" out there stating that it takes about 10,000 hours of "deliberate practice and work" for someone to become an "expert" at something. There are some naysayers of this, and that's fine. But logically, I think it makes a great deal of sense. This rule, in the book, applies to everyone from Bill Gates to the Beatles. 10,000 hours is a lot of time. You see in this book how a couple strange circumstances allowed some of these successful individuals to gain this time much faster than others. Right place, right time seems to come up a lot with the successful individuals mentioned in the book. I've been wondering myself how many hours I have put into certain actions and activities. How many hours have I put into drawing? How many hours have I put into running? Coaching? teaching? How many of those hours were "deliberate"? It made me wonder if I am truly working at becoming an expert at anything. Should I be drawing more often with more deliberate intentions? How would that change me? This i something I think I need to mull over for a bit. I am all for changing myself for the better... so how can I apply this 10,000 to that end?

What does all this information about circumstances and success and 10,00 hours mean for me, though? What does it mean for my son? Will he not be successful unless the circumstances are just right? Honestly, that's very likely he wont be if we are talking about "success" as it is defined by our society... which often means financially. That sounds terrible and almost like I should panic, until I look at it a different way. If I teach my son to work hard and get educated for the love if it and look for and seize opportunities when they come up, who knows where it will lead. If he is prepared and ready when an opportunity comes up, he can take it, or not, depending on what he wants to do. If he walks around in life, just looking for success, its going to be hard to find. Its elusive. It is set up for some and not for others through series of happenings and coincidences. If all my son looks for is this elusive and ever-changing path, he may never find it. But, instead, if he looks for opportunities to be fulfilled and happy, than success isn't as important. It may come or not, but he will be happy.

I'm pretty sure this is what success looks like. I love this picture.

We are only here for a short time. We cant take anything with us when we leave. All we can do is try to learn from our time here and improve our own experiences and the experiences of others' lives, if possible. If that result sin being rich and successful, great. But, if you're rich and "successful" but miserable, what's the point?