Extraordinary is Actually Ordinary

Outliers is different from what I expected. I presumed the book would hold secrets on how to become an extraordinary human being, but so far it only tells of the circumstances that these interesting human beings were under to achieve greatness. Gladwell places a heavy emphasis on the environment and time period an outlier was born in, which led to his or her's success. He also said the problem with humans is that they try to be like the outlier in order to become the outlier. Humans believe that this particular individual did something different in order to be so great. However, the outlier's circumstances granted the opportunity and they probably followed the 10,000-hour rule. The 10,000-hour rule states that if you practice something for about 10,000 hours, you will surely become an expert at it. This is the theory that has stuck the most to me from this book because I can agree and relate through personal experiences. For many of you that have Mr. Nguyen you know his favorite phrase, "Just do the work." Due to Mr. Nguyen's heavy homework assignments that add up to many hours a night math is becoming a second nature to me because of all the repetition of problems. Moreover I am a volleyball player and practice basically all year round from being in school and club volleyball, so I have seen my improvement due to so many hours of practice. The weekly book club meetings on Tuesdays are important because it gives me an opportunity to see the book from another's point of view and thought process, which helps broaden my perspective and understanding. I am enjoying Outliers because it shows that these humans are actually normal, and all that they did was put in extra time and work. They didn't have super powers or genetically mutated minds they simply practiced more than the average person.