Talent & Practice

Talent & Practice

Introduction

Gladwell's book 'Outliers: The story of success' was published in the year 2008. In his book, Gladwell evaluates the factors that can strongly contribute to success of human beings. He has shed light upon the success story of Beatles, Bill Gates, Joseph Flom, and other such successful personalities. He has made attempts to find out the reasons behind their success (Gladwell, 2009). Throughout the book, Gladwell has mentioned the 10,000 hour rule. The popularity of the book rose from the 10,000 hour rule that is repeatedly referred in it. In his book 'Outliers', Malcolm Gladwell has discussed the 10,000-hour rule and claimed that the major reason behind the success to a great extent in any field is a matter of practicing the tasks of that field for a total of 10,000 hours.

Thesis Statement

Gladwell has proposed a 10,000 hour rule in his book 'Outliers' which seems to be an entirely wrong rule with a baseless theory.

Discussion

According to Gladwell, “achieving expertise in anything requires 10,000 hours of practice” (Gladwell, 2009). This means that in order to master any skill, a person is required to spend 10,000 hours of his life to learn that particular skill. From Bill Gates to the music band of Beatles, Gladwell reflects upon several examples of success stories which have strongly followed the 10,000 hour rule. Gladwell mentions that for several years, the band of Beatles performed in Germany Club nightly. As the four members of the band of Beatles continued their practice and performance, they eventually gained their 10,000 hours of practice. As they accomplished their 10,000 hours of practice, they were able to become super stars of music in that era. However, the 10,000 hour rule of Gladwell has become extremely controversial and a point of discussion for many critics. There are several ...