What It Takes To Be Great Analysis

Many are rich many are poor many have money many don’t. Have you ever had a moment where you did something selfish for desperation of money and karma hit you right back with a right hook?. And felt regret towards yourself. In the short story “Why, You Reckon” the author uses irony and dialogue, to show the audience that money can't buy happiness.

A man most people know for his incredible but challenging basketball career, Michael Jordan, once said when giving tips on how to be successful like himself, “You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the levels of everything you do will rise. I’m not out there sweating for three hours every day just to find out what it feels like to sweat.” Although some may disagree and say that quality practices do not go hand in hand with quantity practice for successful people, I disagree. Successful people practice with a purpose: to be successful. Bill Gates had intentions of becoming successful when spending endless hours in the computer lab. The Beatles always had it in their plans to become better each performance when they would play eight hours a day in Germany. Based on evidence, it seems to be a pattern that a successful individual does have both a practice of quality and quantity in their vocabulary to mean the same thing. These individuals have therefore taught themselves hard work, because this idea of 10,000 hours of practice has allowed them to learn how to work for what they

The road to greatness is a long path filled with struggle and time. Based on research by the best-selling author Malcom Gladwell inside his book Outliers popularized the idea of 10,000 hours of guided practice “the magic number of greatness”(Gladwell, 47). With enough practice he said anyone could achieve any work that of a professional. While some say the 10,000 hour rule is the key to success I believe that success is based on genetics, talent, and time period. It is whether one was born with the talent, achieved it later within life or was born during the wrong time period is what makes a master out of someone. Where the 10,000 hour rule is not a truth.

Early specialization is characterized by year-round training in a single activity, beginning at a young age, apart from other activities with the goal of developing expertise (Ericsson et al., 1993). Ericsson and his colleagues studied pianists and violinists of varying skill levels and discovered that the expert musicians typically began training between ages four and five while the non-experts started training later in life. Moreover, a pattern emerged indicating that the level of performance attained related to the amount of deliberate practice. By age 20 the best performers had spent over 10,000 hours, an intermediate group had put in 8,000 hours, and the least accomplished group only 5,000 hours. In their theory of deliberate practice, Ericsson et al. (1993) suggest that talent plays no role in the development of expertise, rather it is an effortful activity motivated by the goal of improving performance. Typically, deliberate practice requires a high amount of concentration and must be carried out over time. The obligation to significant amounts of deliberate practice in one sport from a young age has been demonstrated as one approach to developing elite athletes (Helsen et al., 1998).

After reading The Sports Gene and Outliers, it is determined that people become “talented” with practice and there is no such thing as innate “talent”. In Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, in chapter 2 it is said, “...10,000 hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert-in anything.” This supports the idea that people become “talented” with practice. The quote supports the claim because if it is being said that it takes 10,000 hours to master anything, it can be assumed that people do not have innate “talent”, but rather have a level of mastery over many hours of practice. It could be said on the opposite side of the argument that if it takes 10,000 hours to master anything, “ Why is there

I disagree with Lauren Slater’s theory that throughout a person's life, one will only surround themselves with ideas and people similar to their own because, it is easy to see that people enjoy controversy and over the course of our lives, our beliefs and ideas can change.

Geoff Colvin, the author of What It Takes to Be Great, once stated “Greatness isn’t handed to anyone; it requires a lot of hard work.” This statement is undeniable because it is proven multiple times in the story, “The Smallest Dragonboy” by Anne McCaffrey, the Duracell advertisement with Derrick Coleman, and the article, “What It Takes to Be Great,” by Colvin himself. Deliberate practice will greatly improve their adroitness on one’s field of profession and perseverance will play a great role on achieving one’s goals. Talent is insignificant compared to determination and meticulous practice. Colvin’s claim on how success is only achieved with perseverance and certitude is indubitable.

The Sports Gene, written by David Epstein, supports the argument that natural ability controls our lives. Malcolm Butler, author of Outliers: The Story of Success, argues that preparation and work ethic are more important than innate talent. With great examples and reasoning, Butler builds a more convincing argument by presenting evidence and reasoning from the text, making Butlers position better for answering the question How much of what happens in our lives do we control?

Practice can be the key to improving. In every area of education, in every sport, with every musical activity, anything that requires a good performance, those who practice tend to understand the material more. Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers states just how important this can be. Going off of the idea that “practice makes perfect”, his entire second chapter is dedicated to persuading his audience to believe 10,000 hours is what it takes to succeed. Examples Gladwell provides include how Mozart didn’t create his greatest works until later in his life after he had gained experience, how the Beatles performed in multiple practice concerts in Hamburg, Germany before becoming musical sensations, and how Bobby Fischer and chess grandmasters

According to, some recent studies, practice is the body through which genius is conveyed. Malcolm Gladwell brought the idea that 10,000 hours of practice was the exact amount of practice needed to acheive excellence, no matter the natural abilty of the person. Through dedication and practice, he stated in his work “The Outliers,” that any person could develop skills that are on par with a professional.

“A theory of general psychology that states the differences between expert performers and normal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain. (Ericsson, K. A).”

Hi Tracy, thank you for the insightful post regarding I-Thou relationships. I face another stage of uncertainty in life. I find life mundane as I grow older disappointed where I stand. I continue to seek to discover where God desires for me to use my talents. Each time I feel confident of my life course, my life shifts and again. When my life shifts, I require reset of my goals and objectives. However, two books have been encouraging me during uncertainty. The books are called You Matter More than you think by Dr. Leslie Parrot and Home Run by Kevin Myers. I learned to embrace each difficulty as a gift to fall forward. Both books describe how contempt and disgruntlement in life does not equate to gratitude. A grateful heart appreciates the

As described by Touhy, Brown & Smith (2005), human beings need physical, psychosocial and Spiritual comfort to make connections with others and validate their lives. Individuals live a life time forming relationships, setting goals, trying to reach these goals and ultimately searching for the infamous meaning of life. In the end, it seems that all that really matters are the people you love most. What do we do when our life is about to come to an end and there are many things left unsaid? How do we mend our broken relationships before we die? Why is this important for us to do before it is too late?

In a world where everyone is born with different talents, abilities, and set of skills its easy to be jealous or to idolize someone else. But it doesn't mean you can't be as great as your idols, its just takes a bit of work and effort. Take Billy for example, he always wanted to be as skilled of a guitarist as his idol Slash. There was just one problem Billy couldn't play a note to say his life. After years of practicing Billy could play any song. Dedication, determination, and persistence gave Billy a goal, a purpose, and made Billy who he is: someone who achieved his

The older girl appears to believe the theme of the story is that just being good isn't going to save you. This is obvious when she asks, "wouldn't they have saved her even if she wasn't good?" This shows that she would have been saved even if she wasn't good, so what is the purpose of being good, when it all comes out the same