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Has anyone read Outliers? Do you believe that stuff?

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Northern Lawn

Northern Lawn

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Malcolm Gladwell is trying to say that if you study 10,000 hours over 10 years you will be a gifted.. .whatever you want to be.

I guess that could be true but I never thought of it that way. I never thought of picking a talent and DELIBERATELY focusing myself, even to the point of adding up the hours, and become an expert in it.

I was thinking of picking music composition but not on the guitar like I used to try and do, I get so bored practicing scales and appregios, but composing on a program called Sibelius 7.

So far in life I'm only an expert window cleaner and First Person shooter (Oh if I could take back those hours, LOL). I'd like something a little more lucrative if you know what I mean. Instead I spread out my efforts on tons of things, learning dreamweaver, photoshop, illustrator Word, exel, marketing I dont know where I'm going anymore. I need focus.. on something.
 
It is true to a point. It takes practice to become good, lots and lots of practice. But 10,000 hours is not a hard and fast rule. You aren't decent at 9990 hours and suddenly superp at 10010 hours.

Also natural abilities and other factors play a role. A 4 foot 9 inch man who practices basketball for 10000 hours may be quite good. But a 6 foot 9 inch man who practices just as hard for 1000 hours is probably far better.

I for example have short fingers. I could practice piano 10000 hours and be very good. But I still couldn't play many pieces since my fingers just don't reach.
 
I hear ya, I broke a knuckle on my fretting hand when I was 20 and it wasn't set right. Now I get tendinitis if I use it too repetitively.
 
dullard said:
It is true to a point. It takes practice to become good, lots and lots of practice. But 10,000 hours is not a hard and fast rule. You aren't decent at 9990 hours and suddenly superp at 10010 hours.

Also natural abilities and other factors play a role. A 4 foot 9 inch man who practices basketball for 10000 hours may be quite good. But a 6 foot 9 inch man who practices just as hard for 1000 hours is probably far better.

I for example have short fingers. I could practice piano 10000 hours and be very good. But I still couldn't play many pieces since my fingers just don't reach.
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That would be the most awesome 4'9" basketball player to watch lololololololol omg that would be awesome.

But yeah, its ALL about the practice. Our forebrain does jack shit, physical ingrained skills go in your cerebellum.
 
I think it was Jeff Van Gundy who said that about about NBA players. He half jokingly referred to Tmac.
 
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That's not really his premise as I understand it. Rather that the minimum level of expertise required to be proficient in an endevour / skill / field of study is 10,000 hours. And really he's more correct than not. Guys like Neal Schon, Steve Vai are playing CONSTANTLY. Doesn't matter where there are or what...noodling , playing, writing, whatever something. As for gifted well, that implies a bequest much like DNA or something, imo.
 
Nah, Mozart for example had practiced hours and hours before even going to music school.

So when he shows up and everyone elses kid is trying to play their piccolo from the wrong end Mozart by comparison is "gifted" but its really just extracurricular training outside institutional training.

So you show up hungover, take "what I've been practicing 5,000 hours already 101 introductory lesson" and easily hand everyone their ass, and get called "gifted" for not having any official credentials but showing skill. "Hey guys remember the first day I ever had of basketball training when I showed up hungover and got 10 dunks?" and then that becomes part of your legacy.

Its not like they could do the same thing in the NBA, unless it was by playing unorthodox, in which case it would only work until they learned your play style and then you would be quickly outskilled.

Part of being good at what you do is knowing the general limits. Sometimes its just timing, knowing when you've had your good run and its time to take a bow and practice some more.
 
Some friends educated social education and assistance, one a retired gradeschool teacher, mentioned the material in the book is all known with little to no new material. It is just that Gladwell writes well.
 
chusteczka said:
Some friends educated social education and assistance, one a retired gradeschool teacher, mentioned the material in the book is all known with little to no new material. It is just that Gladwell writes well.
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VERY WELL, it's a GREAT BOOK! I have his other two books as well but I haven't read them yet, Tipping Point and...some other one.

Actually for Outliers, I listened to it last summer as an audio book while I was working (I do lawn maintenance) and I still remember it.
 
TallBill said:
1,000 ten hour days.... hmmmm, I dunno....
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If you practiced guitar for 10 hours a day for 3 years, you would be good but not an expert (I don't think) and that's what he is saying, you would be gifted. He uses Beetles and Bill Gates as examples.

The book is inspiring, I'm not sure if it's practical though.
 
Seems pretty practical to me. I started working professionally much earlier than most of my peers so I feel like I got a head start. Sometimes it's a little awkward to be managing people 10 years older. The hardest thing is convincing others that I'm just as capable as someone older than me if given the chance.
 
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