The book talks about why some people become successful and why some do not. One thing that has stuck with me since reading the book was the number of hours one has to put into something before one becomes an expert at it - apparently it is 10,000 hours before anyone can become good at what they do.
So is it only about effort? No... you also need to have the right opportunities to strike it good - you need to know the right people, have the right type of childhood (which enables you to put in the 10,000 hours), must have certail types of social skills and finally, might even have to be born in the right year.
Thats a lot of variables - it makes me think success is something that is very random. Maybe successful people always have some traits - such as working very hard, but having those traits will not ensure success. Makes me think that being outrageously successful is just about being lucky. I am not saying hard work wont produce success - it does. But being outrageously successful - thats usually a series of lucky breaks working for you. Going to the right college, having the right friends who put you in touch with the right people, serendipitously starting to work for some new startup after giving up other good jobs offers, deciding on moving to a new location - these are all decisions that we make without being able to fully foresee what the effects of it all may be. Thats why its just plain lucky - or maybe its just how their life was meant to be.
Good read.
So is it only about effort? No... you also need to have the right opportunities to strike it good - you need to know the right people, have the right type of childhood (which enables you to put in the 10,000 hours), must have certail types of social skills and finally, might even have to be born in the right year.
Thats a lot of variables - it makes me think success is something that is very random. Maybe successful people always have some traits - such as working very hard, but having those traits will not ensure success. Makes me think that being outrageously successful is just about being lucky. I am not saying hard work wont produce success - it does. But being outrageously successful - thats usually a series of lucky breaks working for you. Going to the right college, having the right friends who put you in touch with the right people, serendipitously starting to work for some new startup after giving up other good jobs offers, deciding on moving to a new location - these are all decisions that we make without being able to fully foresee what the effects of it all may be. Thats why its just plain lucky - or maybe its just how their life was meant to be.
Good read.
