Outliers Gladwell Reflection

The Book I chose to read was Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. The reason I chose this book is because I have read other books by Malcolm Gladwell and find the psychology explained in his previous quite fascinating. There are several factors that I have learned from this book. First, success does not happen by chance. Second, Success takes very hard work, and third, people become successful as a result of a favorable background which propels them to success.

The first point I am discussing: Success does not happen by chance is exactly that. Although there certainly are success stories of people going from very poor to very wealthy, that is not usually the case. For example, the book gives a list of successful people who were born in the right place at the right time which propelled them to success. An example in the book is Bill Gates. The book talks about how Gates was the son of a wealthy man and went to a prestigious grammar school. In the year 1968, the school was able to purchase a computer and Bill Gated basically had unlimited access to the computer and programming on the computer in a time in which computers were in their infancy and very few people had access to them. In other words, he was set up for success.

Regarding the second point: Success takes very, …show more content…
Knowing that success does not happen by chance and the example of Bill Gates, I can take advantage of the fact that I am fortunate enough to live in Marin County where there is more than ample opportunity to get a good education and strive for my goals (Which is to become a nurse practitioner). The second point which is that “success takes very hard work” I can apply myself and focus on my goal of becoming a Nurse Practitioner. The third point is that I am fortunate enough to have a family who supports my decision to make a mid-life career change, so I have the background to help me succeed in becoming a Nurse