10,000 hours

I read the most fascinating book this summer titled 'Outliers: The story of Success' by Canadian author, (eh!) Malcolm Gladwell.  It's not normally the type of book I would choose to read, but I had got it for Gord to read while we were traveling and he loved it so much he talked be into reading it.  It is one of those books that may take you a few pages to kinda get into it, but once you're in, you're hooked.  I think I read it in 2 days.

What this book explores is the phenomenon of super successful people that we strive to emulate and how much of their success is fated, by chance or hard earned.  One of the points he makes is the importance of birthmonths that seem to line some people up for extra nurturing... especially those in the elite sports arena. The other important point (and I think the most important one) is that these apparent 'over night success' stories have logged in over 10,000 hours honing their craft.  He uses the examples of the Beatles, who played 8 hour sets 6 days a week in Hamburg before they made any impression in Britain, and a young Bill Gates, who just happened to have access to a computer and lab time that was in those days a rare occurrence, so he too was able to log copious amounts of programing hours en route to perfecting his particular gift.  Important too, was the fact that they had the discipline to stick to it and get those hours under their respective belts. There is so much more to the book, but again, it is fascinating and makes one stop and take a look at our own lives to see where we succeeded or derailed.  I quote:

"The lives of outliers - people whose achievements fall outside normal experience - follow a peculiar and unexpected logic, and in uncovering that logic, Gladwell  presents a fascinating and provocative blueprint for making the most of human potential."

Check it out... you won't be disappointed!