Luck 's Role On My Brother 's Success

However, luck plays a much larger role than he claims. There are plenty of stories of homeless individuals with master’s degrees. One example is of Maurice Johnson, a 55 year old man who had two separate master’s degrees, and lives homeless in the streets of Boston. Johnson had the time and dedication to obtain those degrees, but even after all that work he ended up in one of the worst positions possible in America. Many of Gladwell’s examples about luck emphasize the point that luck was needed to obtain the 10,000 hours for their level of mastery, but the fact exists that the overall success of a person is also dependent on luck as well. Maurice Johnson’s father died earlier in his life, and Johnson spent many of his resources helping his ill, bed-ridden mother. Even though Johnson had the luck to become a master at multiple subjects, luck was still needed to put those skills into use, which didn’t happen for

In the article "Chance and Circumstance" by David Leonhardt he speaks about a lot of subjects. These subjects ranged from hockey players in Canada to Bill Gates and Malcolm Gladwell. Malcolm Gladwell was a man who graduated from University of Toronto. He had then moved to the United States to try journalism (578). Bill Gates was a man with a advantage over many because he himself states that he had more exposure to software then maybe anyone at the time (579). David also states things about teenagers being born in the beginning of the year are stronger, older and taller than their peers. David interviewed a parent at the championship game at the Canadian junior league, which he later found out that the son of the man was born January fourth. He then discovered that the son, hockey player of the man was big for his age (580). A challenge that I have always gone through in baseball would be that I was always the shortest, youngest and at times the weakest.

Wayne Gretzky skates down the ice with the puck, he fakes a shot, the goalie falls for it, Gretzky shoots, he scores! This is a common occurrence for Wayne Gretzky, a former NHL player who holds the record for most career regular-season goals (894), assists (1,963), points (2,857), and hat tricks (50). Most people would say Gretzky’s success all stems from his innate talent, but in “The Matthew Effect,” Gladwell argues that innate talent is not the only reason for success. He reveals there’s a much more surprising reason. In Gladwell’s chapter, “The Matthew Effect,” the controversial writer expertly asks rhetorical questions and uses charts and statistics to defend his claim that a person’s date of birth has a significant influence on their athletic and academic success.

Gladwell’s Matthew Effect states that individuals who are slightly more talented than their competitors are given opportunities that lead to larger success. For example, hockey players who happen to be bigger than other players are selected for

One example that he talks about is “The Matthew Effect”. “The Matthew Effect” is shown through the Medicine Hat Tigers elite hockey team of Canada; if one was to look at the roster, which includes their birth dates, they would find something quite peculiar. Most of the players were born in the early months of the year, for instance, January, February, and March. The cutoff date for making the elite team is also January 1st; meaning that all the hockey players born close to the cutoff date would be enrolled for the next year and therefore, have a whole year on people born in December of that same year. Not only are the early month players physically developing more quickly, but they also get more practice, which causes them to be more successful than others and have a huge advantage. The same results also appeared in Czech junior soccer teams as the cut off date was also January 1st. Gladwell states, “...the Czech soccer coaches might as well have told everyone born after mid-summer that they should pack their bags and go home” (27). Overall, this effect helps contribute to Gladwell’s main statement about opportunity, which is that the opportunities presented to you stem from the month, year, or era you were born in, your culture, and your family background. Sometimes they are even presented to you just by luck but, with either case, to become successful, you must be able to notice your opportunities and then invest yourself in

Is it coincidental that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Bill Joy and a myriad of other multi-millionaires were all born within a span of 3 years? Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers, suspects that there is more behind this occurrence than just a simple coincidence. He asserts that there is no such thing as a self-made man and that success does not come from natural talent, rather it comes from extraordinary opportunities and hidden advantages. In Outliers, Gladwell attempts to debunk the myth that people are successful all because of themselves, However, Malcolm Gladwell recognizes that success is intangible without ardor and hard work. He synthesizes a coherent set of logical arguments, by discussing the advantages of birth dates, stating the

Gladwell describes what makes some people more successful than others. His central premise focuses on the different opportunities that people receive throughout their lives and how those people use the opportunities to their advantage or disadvantage. Gladwell describes this theory as the Matthew Effect:

Firstly, Gladwell quickly jumps into an example of someone considered to be an outlier. This example surrounds hockey players and their success. From this, Gladwell points out a shocking reality surrounding how a person’s birthday can affect their entire life. The players are not given the same opportunities based on their birthdays, in fact those born after certain dates do not receive nearly the same amount of chances for playing and increasing their skill. This is a reality that many people would be unaware of if it were not for the expertise of Psychologist Roger Barnsely.This is even evident in the

Malcolm Gladwell introduces his readers to his story by discussing an advantage several hockey players possess that cannot be controlled by the individual. In a roster that was provided with birth months, Barnsley, a Canadian psychologist, identified that, “in any elite group of hockey players—the very best of the best—40 percent of the players will have been born between January and March” (qtd. in Gladwell 22), and the percentages decreased as the months reached the end of the year. What

Subject: In the Outliers, the author, Malcolm Gladwell, talks about how and why people are successful. It shows that hard work and dedication aren’t the only thing a person needs to be successful. In the first chapter of the book, Gladwell investigates one of Canada’s best hockey teams. He shows that nearly two thirds of the team were born in the first four months of the year, which is due to the fact that as children these players have always been the oldest on the team giving them a physical advantage. This small advantage had a domino effect because they were better as young children because of their physical dominance. Then they were on better teams,

In Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, his central premise is that success is not obtained the way most people think it is. We are often told that success come from sheer luck, or a triumphant rags-to-riches story. In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell tells the story of many successful outliers such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, The Beatles, and many more. He breaks down each story and points out what actually made that persona successful. While breaking down the story her also introduces the reader to what he believe are the actual keys to success. In the book he talks about The Matthew Theory, The 10,000 hour Rule, Practical Intelligence vs Analytical Intelligence, and Demographic Luck.

Chapter 1 refers to the Bible that states that those who have will be given more while those who have not will lose that which they had. During chapter 1 Gladwell talks about the certain leverage children and sports players have in school just because they were born in a beneficial section of the year. That led them to have a positive influence for their life that only helped the more though ought there life from there. Gladwell had analyzed a comparatively unique statistic about the Canadian professional hockey leagues: 10% were born between October and December, 20% between July and September, 30% between April and June and 40% between January and March. His interpretation for this bizarre statistic is elementary: the cut-off birth date for trying out for hockey in Canada is January 1st. remarkably, from his statistics if you turn ten on January

Research shows that older kids in a specific grade score higher test scores than those younger in the grade. This is proven from elementary school-college. Children born early in the year have time to improve skills in school as well. Gladwell states that by this time, people born later in the year will have no time to catch up to those born with in the first three months of the

In Chapter One of Outliers, Gladwell focuses on the way in which people who are born early in the year have advantages in certain areas over those born later. He discusses the fact that professional hockey players are disproportionately born early in the year. He says this is because they are the oldest children in their youth hockey leagues and most of the players are born in the first part of the year. They will be bigger, stronger, and better-coordinated than those born later in the year. As a result, they will get more attention, more coaching, more reinforcement, and more self-confidence.

Essentially, the topics Gladwell covered in this book include are, being at the right place at the right time, the 10,000-hour rule, timing, upbringing, and pursuing a meaningful career. Although all of these have been proven by Gladwell to be a major component of success, I do not agree with the idea of a particular upbringing will determine success. With this idea, Malcolm also includes that