We all like reading fiction books and fantasy with exotic characters and extreme plots, but reading a non-fiction book like Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell really enables you to be able to make connections. It’s interesting to read his arguments and the points he makes and apply them to the world around me. I can also relate Malcolm Gladwell’s topics to my own life and experiences and it makes reading the book that much more enjoyable.
I can agree with Malcolm Gladwell's concept of 10,000 hours. I think that people, who find something that they love doing, and are willing to do for 10,000 hours, are lucky. Having a passion like that is exactly what can lead to success. I have a passion for soccer but I know that I probably won’t be able to reach 10,000 hours by the time my career is over. I have been playing soccer since I was 5 and each year becomes a little more intense. More practices, more games, more tournaments, all increasing the amount of time I am playing soccer. Let’s say as an estimate that I play an average of 5 hours of soccer a week for 10 months out of the year. That’s 200 hours a year. If I started at age 5 and end at age 22 then I will have played about 3,400 hours of soccer. Not even close to 10,000. To become a professional soccer player is extremely hard work and dedication. I know how hard it is to get there and 10,000 hours of soccer is a lot of soccer. Professionals have those hours. They are the people who sleep with a soccer ball under their pillow, who play day and night, always outside practicing when they aren't with their team and are playing soccer 7 days a week. These are the players that succeed, the players that make it to the professionals. Malcolm is exactly right when he says that the people who work hard to get to 10,000 hours are the people that become exceptional. “And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.” (39) They become the outliers. Not simply by ability. If soccer players could make it to the professionals just by pure talent then a lot of people could get there easily. But no, they make it by hard work for 10,000 hours. “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” (42)
Another good point Malcolm Gladwell makes is how during the summer kids who come from poorer families are at a disadvantage. During summer their parents don’t have the money to send them off to summer camps or buy them books to read or keep them engaged in some sort of educational work. I come from a family where I have access to these types of activities during summer. I stay active by going to soccer camps, my parents make sure I read plenty of books throughout the entire vacation, my grandmother takes me to museums and plays, and if we go on vacations we visit historical sites. So during summer I’m still very well engaged in reading and learning. Kids who aren’t as lucky don’t go to summer camps and don’t have parents who can buy them new books to read. “The poorest kids come back from the holidays and their reading scores have dropped almost 4 points. Poor kids may out-learn rich kids but during the school year. But during the summer, they fall far behind.” (258) They are at a huge disadvantage by the time September rolls around and we’re all back at school. When I come back I have read at least 10 books and someone else who isn’t very wealthy might’ve not even touched a book since June! “When it comes to reading skills, poor kids learn nothing when school is not in session.” (258) I can clearly agree with Gladwell’s argument because I can tell how I would have an advantage over other students.
The last point he makes, that I can really apply my life to, is the Power Distance Index. Everyday I can see how this affects people because it occurs in my school. I can tell there is a huge difference between the people who are considered “popular” and people who aren’t considered popular. I’m in the class advisory and I know that someone who didn’t consider them self to be popular wouldn’t run for class president. Kids who know they are liked by much of the student body will run for president because they know that other people will vote for them. Students who know they aren’t as popular won’t try to fit in with popular people. They will do things like sit in the front of the bus and let the “cool kids” sit in the back. A lot of popular people tend to sit in the new cafeteria. The “un-cool kids” know this so most of them tend to sit in the large cafeteria. (This isn’t exactly true but for the most part this is how it goes.) The less popular kids wouldn’t dare try and take a table from the popular kids; it just doesn’t work like that. It isn’t that popular kids are mean or make fun of the less popular kids. Everyone goes about minding their own business and hangs out in their own groups but it is apparent that, for the most part, the kids considered unpopular or un-cool respect the popular people. This is very similar to how Malcolm Gladwell explains Power Distance Index. “Power distance is concerned with attitudes toward hierarchy, specifically with how much a particular culture values and respects authority.” (204-205) The reason the less popular kids respect the popular people is because they want to be like them or at least be as liked by their peers as the popular people are.
It is clear that there are many concepts in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers that can be applied to my life. He creates a story that is engaging because there are many points he makes that I would’ve never even considered. After reading the book I realize how accurate his arguments are and how closely they relate to my everyday life. The book goes much deeper than just a simple answer but he found facts and evidence to support his conclusions which he researched thoroughly. Malcolm Gladwell’s story of Outliers is an exceptional piece on non-fiction that, not just me, but anyone can connect to.
