I tend to read books for the practical applications I can use in my life, and I found Gladwell's thesis somewhat depressing. According to him, so much of success is outside of your own control - it depends on your parents, the random opportunities presented to you, and even the year and month of your birth. I saw this happen myself during the internet boom. There were many guys a few years older than me who had just graduated college and were in the "sweet spot" of being able to start Internet startups adn take advantage of that opportunity. Being a few years younger, I was still in college and had to finish due to a work obligation. I've also seen it happen in my life on the positive side - I wouldn't be where I am now without my parents and some random luck here and there completely outside of my control.
But there was a more inspiring portion of Gladwell's message as well - the idea that after expending 10,000 hours of effort into something, you become an master. I found a nice post that further breaks down those hours (i.e. 1000 hours to experienced expert). And here's my own personal breakdown:
- Weekend Hobby: 2 hours a week: 10 years to expert
- Weekday Hobby: 1 hour a day, 5 days a week: 4 years to expert, 40 years to master
- Obsessive Hobby: 2 hours a day, 7 days a week: 1.4 years to expert, 14 years to master
- Full-Time Job: 8 hours a day, 5 days a week: 0.5 years to expert, 5 years to master
That's a lot of time to become a master, eh? And a lot of years to consistently maintain the motivation. It got me thinking about the skills in life I'd like to develop:
- Programming to the master level. According to raw hours, I should be there or near there already - but programming is such a wide topic (multiple languages, plus always evolving) that this may involve more than 10,000 hours here, or perhaps it's a subject that you have to invest a certain amount per year just to keep up :]
- Game making to the master level. Don't know quite what to call this subject - but the ability to make finished games that are released to players. Involves business, programming, design. This is my dream - but have just about 10,000 hours to go on this one :]
- Ballroom Dancing. At my current pace in this I should be an expert in about 20 years as it's currently in a sub weekend hobby level :] Would be nice to upgrade this to full weekend hobby level.
- General fitness. Currently at weekday hobby level, so just have to stick with it!
- Reading. Currently somewhere below weekday hobby level, would like to increase this as I think reading gives all kinds of benefits in life.
- Wishlist. Other things I've always wanted to get good at are drumming/keyboard/martial art/shooting. Most of these require money that I don't really want to spend right now, so not sure how I should proceed on these.
Well, enough about that - back to Outliers. The third thing that really struck me about the book was the chapter on the KIPP school system - Maria's Bargain. There was a portion of the book where it described her typical day - and it was wake up, go to school, do homework, go to bed, with barely enough time to eat dinner or say hi to her Mom. I don't know quite what to make of this - because with this amount of work, she probably will have a "successful" life and make lots of money, be at the top of her career, etc. But at the same time - is she really enjoying life, is she really living? If I think back to the happiest times of my life, they haven't been at school, or at work - they've been making up a game for my friends, or spending time with my family at vacation, or just relaxing reading a book. The constant working seems robotic to me. But after reading the book, maybe my feeling this way is just due to my upbringing. Even if it is, do I want to change it?
The one thing the book didn't cover (but I wish it had) was the relationship between success and happiness (or even the definition of success). There seemed to be this unspoken assumption that the success stories he mentioned were the most admirable people on the earth and worth emulation: but I've seen many happy people that aren't considered necessarily "successful" that are just as much worth emulation. I'd like to find a book about this subject some day as well.
Rating: 1/4 (good for a few ideas it provoked, but kind of throwaway)
Responses:
ReplyDelete-Your description of Gladwell's thesis (that much of our success lays outside our control) as depressing caught me by surprise, though upon reflection I can see what you mean. However, the idea of recognizing the value of luck is to me freeing, something that brings peace. It means that sometimes you are not failing because of things you did wrong or weren't good enough at, it just might not be the right time. Yes, it seems rather unfair, but that's the way life is and seeing our successes or failures for what they are can go a long way to preventing depression. Accepting what you cannot change is part of serenity, and changing what you can involves recognizing what you are able to affect.
As for your rubric, I don't really agree that 1,000 hours makes you an experience expert. I have that much in ceramics, and I am in no way an expert, much less an experienced one. But the 10,000 hours thing holds... it is interesting how you showed that one can almost never become a master at a weekend hobby-- it takes 10 years to even become what you call an expert!
I had the same thought about Maria's Bargain, but the problem for her was that if she didn't make that bargain, she would never have the opportunity to go to college, which cuts out a whole lot of life choices. Ideally, she could spend her days having fun and relaxing, but that ideal involves a middle-class family who encourages learning outside of school and who can send her to college should she fail to get a scholarship. That "ideal" isn't open to her, so she has to sacrifice "playtime" in order to open up those doors of higher education and careers that normally would be closed to her. Also, she didn't sound unhappy at all. She sounded normal, as if she has gotten used to the work and finds it stimulating and enjoys seeing her own progress. The work is meaningful for her.
I had the same thoughts as I read the book: success seemed inevitable linked with high-paying jobs. The grandchildren of immigrants who worked in clothing or grocery stores invariably became successful, as doctors or lawyers. But they were just fulfilling their cultural expectations. Were they happy? What if you didn't want to be a doctor or lawyer-- you were decreed to be a failure? Where does personality come into this, what about personal choice? What about other value systems (success being personal freedom, or spiritual growth, or living a dream)?