Outliers Gladwell

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Malcolm Gladwell states in Outliers that 10,000 hours of practice in a sport or hobby or career, will propel one person over another. He tries to convince us with his argument by bringing up people like Bill Gates and the Beatles, stating that they spent more than 10,000 hours perfecting their craft. At first his argument seems pretty legit and holds merit, but then you begin to question. What if someone practices for 10,000 hours, but doesn 't put in much work? What if someone, who has spent few hours than 10,000 is excelling? Doesn 't age and intelligence, come into play or does the 10,000 hours rule apply to anyone? Malcolm Gladwell put the 10,000 hours rule back into play with Outliers, but soon followed many scientists, who disproved …show more content…

If we break it down into even simpler terms, quality does not beat quantity. Two people can spend the same amount of hours on a project, and one will get a better grade than the there. According to Malcolm Gladwell quantity is better than quality and both students should receive the same grade, because the same amount of hours were spent. Daniel Goleman another psychologist, has debunked the 10,000 hour rule states, "The “10,000-hour rule” — that this level of practice holds the secret to great success in any field — has become sacrosanct gospel, echoed on websites and recited as litany in high-performance workshops. The problem: it’s only half true. If you are a duffer at golf, say, and make the same mistakes every time you try a certain swing or putt, 10,000 hours of practicing that error will not improve your game. You’ll still be a duffer, albeit an older one." Goleman hasthe same point as the two students, who put in the same amount of hours in a project. He states in his book "Emotional Intelligence", that their is a qualitative difference in how you pay attention, not a quantitative measure of how many hours put in. Goleman states that feedback is actually, what helps improve someone 's practice. Feedback from an expert eye can actually put the 10,000 hours of practice in good use. We can 't simply assume that by dedicating a set amount of hours we will achieve the results that we wish. Goleman also states that concepts like attention-chunking, emotional empathy, and system blindness influence the pursuit of excellence and can affect, how one

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