Elements of success presented by Gladwell

Another element of success presented by Gladwell is the "Matthew Effect", as the Gospel of Matthew says: "For he that hath, to him shall be given, and will have more, and who has not, even what he has will be taken away ". This refers to the following: no one rises from nowhere, nobody simply appears one day light as a successful person, and those who from the beginning and have advantages for some activity, who are usually necessary to provide good result in the same.

Gladwell offers is from sport. Ice hockey is to Canada as baseball is to the US. In Canadian ice hockey, the cut off date for children enrolling is January 1. A boy who turns 10 on January 2 would be playing alongside someone who does not turn 10 till the end of the year. At that age, a 12 month gap in age represents a huge difference in physical maturity. So the older player is more likely to get noticed, receive better attention and coaching and is better placed to succeed. In short, the small group of people born closest to the cut off date, get a huge advantage. Though on paper, Canadian hockey is a strict meritocracy, the way the team is selected, puts certain children to advantage and others to disadvantage naturally.

Outliers examines how those individuals who achieved success were a product of their environments and life circumstances. On the one hand it's disappointing to think that hard work isn't enough but on the other hand I like the idea that sometimes if someone fails to succeed it isn't because they didn't work hard enough or that they weren't qualified, it might just be a product of their circumstances.

A boy who turns ten on January 2, then, could be playing alongside someone who doesn't turn ten until the end of the year—and at that age, in preadolescence, a twelvemonth gap in age represents an enormous difference in physical maturity.” This gives that player who was born on January 2 more attention from the coaches because he is more developed than the players on his team that were born sometime in November or December. This “twelvemonth gap in age” also allows that player with the January 2 birth date more time to practice and develop his skills. Roger and Paula Barnsley were pyscologists who noticed this relative age affect.

6Differences? IQ, social class, personality? None. All had started around 5 years old. But Group A practiced six hours a week at 9 years, 8 hours a week at 12, 16 hours at 14 and 30 hours per week at 20. At that age, had 10,000 hours of practice. Those in group B, and 8000 hours of C, 4000 hours. That's the difference. What emerges from these studies is that 10,000 hours of practice is what makes you a master of something

7He then drew the extraordinarily tenuous conclusion that childhood performance does not predict adult performance for all prodigy types. He gave his own life as an example.

8 /9Both Joy and

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