Outlier

out·li·er

n. One whose domicile lies at an appreciable distance from his or her place of business. A value far from most others in a set of data: "Outliers make statistical analyses difficult" (Harvey Motulsky).

If I didn't have any other commitments, I think I can easily finish one book in a day. Imagine if I had 365 days in the year to read leisurely, I would have accumulated an incredible amount of knowledge. Halfway into Outlier by Malcolm Gladwell and I already have a different perspective on the successes of the successful people in the world. Luck wasn't the mere factor, neither was innate ability of being overtly smarter than peers their age; it was a combination of opportunities available to pursue a certain field of specialization, family background, and the ability to seize these opportunities.

World-class musicians, athletes, tech geeks like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs didn't become famous overnight. They were just like us, with some getting a slight advantage than others when born, but as time progresses, this advantage is what they call the cumulative advantage. It compounded and propelled them into major successes of the 21st century.

Just take a look at climbing. Some have the slight advantage of being more physically built for climbing and ability to learn faster, but when being talent spotted by coaches who spend a large amount of attention and time grooming and polishing these bunch of potential climbers, they advance extremely fast as compared to the rest. The underlying rule to success is actually simple and straightforward - 10000 hours into what you are doing, and when opportunity presents itself, grab it and reap the seeds that you have sowed.
Remember that 10000 hours is not something simple, it's actually doing something 3 hours every day of the week for 10 years.

World-class athletes do not have daytime jobs, they just train and train and train -- and they get paid while training as well. Their brains are so assimilated into these daily trainings that they get so good at it. Why do ordinary athletes not excel as fast? Because they have other commitments. When these world-class athletes have reached the 10000 hours rule, you and I might have just accumulated 1000 hours in training. It's this same theory for all the other highly successful people.

Remember how everyone believe the notion that family background does not matter in a child's success. Actually it does. Middle to upper class families usually have parents who are excelling well in their career. They believe that they should be actively involved in their child's education -- shuttling them to and fro enrichment/tuition classes, asking after their day in school, being the pro-active parent who calls the teacher/school up to find out the activities available and eventually doing the best a parent would for their child. Comparatively, the lower-income parents believe that natural growth is the key. It's not. Children need a role model to follow in social activities and how they present themselves as an individual. The lower-income parents tend to have children that keep to themselves, not knowing when they can assert themselves.

A real life example that I've come to notice is actually the people around me. As a child, I always have the opportunities to follow my mom to social events, mingling with people much older than I am. I've attended various seminars with her as well. I learn the ways of society much faster than most peers my age. The way one presents oneself in speech and mannerisms is not taught in school. It has to be cultivated, and this cultivation actually starts from home. Then, when I take a look at my cousins who are not as well-to-do who did not have as many chances as I had to attend social events, to meet people beyond their social connections, they become more afraid to speak up, not knowing that they can assert themselves, and that they have the right to.

Then again, when I compare myself to even richer families, it varies as well. I always joked with my mom that had she been even richer, she could have sent me to various enrichment classes that give the children of these days that additional advantage when it comes to starting school in Primary 1. A friend of hers whose son is in Tao Nan and in the Gifted Education Programme did not just born to be smart. He had been attending all those extra classes outside that contribute to his cognitive development as a child. He even thanked his mom for sending him to all those endless classes because when he took the streaming examinations in Primary 4, he recalled the questions they asked were similar to those that he had been doing at his tuition classes at the Learning Lab since he was much younger.
It's this kind of exposure and additional advantage that compounds propelling people into bigger successes.
My mom's friend once sent her son to Mindchamps during the holidays to expose himself further and told him to 'get some knowledge back' for the money she put into sending him there. When he came back from the camp he only feedback that it was a waste of her money because he did not get any knowledge back. Imagine a child, at eleven years of age, being able to speak up confidently and assertively, knowing that he should be treated like an adult because he is capable of reasoning, negotiating and communicating his thoughts effectively without whining and throwing tantrums.

When i was eleven, i was just a little kid, afraid to ask questions in class.
The turning point in my life was Sec 1 during the holidays... but that shall be the next part of my life story.

To sum up, "When outliers become outliers it is not just because of their own efforts. It's because of the contributions of lots of different people and lots of different circumstances".

Don't you agree sometimes thoughts are better kept unspoken?
When i went to the school library yesterday, this young chap who was a friend of the school's librarian and was helping me check out the books i wanted to borrow. I asked if the library has Freakonomics. He looked at me and said I don't know and asked me to ask the librarian. So I think she saw and heard me, she came over to the counter and told the guy to type it into the computer search listings. Up came Freakonomics under the American Section, then she went to the shelves and get me the book. On the way there as I followed her, that guy said, what lame book is that?
Wah, my impression of him immediately went down the drain.
If he kept his mouth shut, I wouldn't think of him as being stupid. Haha... okay judgemental much.
Sometimes when you are stupid, you don't have to announce to the world that you are stupid.