What It Takes to Become a Success: Outliers Essay Example

Luck, opportunity, talent, and hard work. These are the points that Malcom Gladwell uses to explain the true path to success in his book Outliers. While these themes are all throughout the book what is verily exploited are the facets of sustainability. In every story of success he tells the toil and perseverance that each person puts in is credited for. This is what truly drives the book to show all aspects of true success and how it’s made.

Even from the beginning of the book arise clear examples of sustainability. In the introduction, “The Roseto Mystery”, we are told about the Roseto people and how their close knit culture is what keeps them thriving. These people immigrated from Rome and started a new life in America where their culture is still abundant. However in the 1950s, America was dealing with a heart health crisis, this nevertheless didn’t seem to phase the Rosetians. Most would assume that they were living healthier lifestyles but in all honesty that wasn’t the case. They only found one connection that could have possibly kept them this way, that was their community. Even though it had been decades since their immigration they maintained their community; it was a part of their culture, and in the end that’s what kept them flourishing.

Starting from the “10,000 Hour Rule” the author exposes more direct acts of sustainability in its connection to work and success. This whole section of the book explores the relationship between those with natural talent that work hard as well as those who don’t, and how those who don’t never prosper the same. Some exemplars are Bill Gates, The Beatles, and Bill Joy. Bill Gates spent his night coding at computer labs, the Beatles spent eight hours a day, every day of the week practicing at one point, Bill Joy spent every hour he could programming.  What do all of these people have in common? They all were able to push themselves to work the extra hour. All of them had natural talent, but would they be what they are today, if they hadn't spent hours upon hours working to become better, the answer is most likely no. These people were the people who never stopped working to become greater.