What makes an Outlier?

What is an Outlier?

As it is defined in any dictionary, an Outlier is a person or thing differing from all other members of a particular group or set.

In our generation and past ones, we have considered people like Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, Steve Jobs, Hussein Bolt, Ghandi, Bill Joy and so many others to be Outliers. These individuals achieved their highest potential.

They are idolized by millions of people who aspire to be like them. They research their habits, dissect their lifestyle and walk in their shadows with the hope of reaching similar fortunes in their lifetime.

While, I have always believed that if you wanted to live a successful life (in the manner you defined success), then what you would need to do would be to find someone successful and form habits around his/her behavior.

However, is it really that easy?

Lets take for instance the 10,000 hour rule. Many theorists believe that the key to success is practicing a key skill for at least 10,000 hours if you were to master it. So, if you wanted to be the next Michael Jordan - your investment would be 10,000 hours. Not that simple right? A number of other factors also have contributed to his success.

Lets take another example. Bill Gates. He was born at the perfect time - October 28th, 1955. While growing up he got the opportunity to work on some basic programming which was totally Greek to most people back in the day. But here's where it gets interesting. January 1975 was the dawn of personal computing and guess who was primed at that age to seize the boom? If he was born a few years earlier, then he's probably have already been working somewhere and perhaps not ventures to start his own business. If he was born a few years later - say in 1958, then he would have still been in high school. Small things like the year of birth even played a huge role in the success of an Outlier.

Not convinced? Lets see who else from Silicon Valley was born between 1953 and 1956: Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt, Bill Joy (Founder of Sun Microsystems), Steve Ballmer (Co Founder of Apple) and Paul Allen (Co Founder of Microsoft).

Outliers are basically successful but they had other factors working in cohesion with their ambition. No doubt Steve Jobs worked his ass off, and Michael Jordan failed much more than he succeeded but grit alone didn't lead them to stardom.

At times we focus so much of our effort on working harder, playing smarter and challenging ourselves and everyone around us - but we also have to acknowledge that other factors also need to be considered.

Let me throw in another basketball analogy. Suppose you are 7'4 - would that automatically mean that you are the best basketball player in the world? Well, probably not. Height is definitely important to be a world class basketball player but after a certain point, it becomes irrelevant. E.G Michael Jordan is about 6.5 feet. You would definitely need to be 6'3 - 6'5 but after a point, height seizes to matter - as proven by Michael Jordan. Being a 7 footer may help a little but it would not automatically qualify you to become the next MJ.

Let me give you another example. On average, a persons IQ is between 90-110. A very smart person would probably be lingering about 140. Albert Einstein is at about 170. Now .. if you were to be really successful, do you think you need to be at an IQ level of 150 +? Probably not! That's because IQ can only take you so far.. In society and the professional world, we learn that other competencies such as team building, attitude, networking and emotional intelligence are integral to growth. We simple cannot assume that good grades based on your cognitive abilities will automatically qualify or grantee you a good job.

Other factors like Culture also play a part in a persons success which often gets disqualified as being stereotypical. Ever wondered why Chinese kids were so good at Math? Could it be that their numerical alphabets are easier to graph than any other language or perhaps looking at their age old heritage of working on paddy plantations for 365 days of the year. Their hard working ethic was drawn from their cultural heritage and is hard-coded into their DNA explaining why they invest maximum effort in everything they do.

Here are some famous Chinese sayings to reiterate my point:

"No food without blood and sweat"

"In winter the lazy man freezes to death"

"If a man works hard, his land will not be lazy"

"Don't depend on heaven for food, but your own hands for carrying the load"

What about social status and family wealth. The book reveals that a study showed that successful professionals usually involved their children in many after school activities and rushed them between social, sports, art and educational lessons on a regular basis - where more modest families left it to the school and their children's own choices to provide direction in their academic lives. On an equal playing field, both sets of kids would be successful but education alone isn't sufficient. Exposure to so many other things truly provides kids with a more wholesome bite of reality.

'We are so caught in the myths of the best and the brightest and the self-made that we think outliers spring naturally from the earth.'

In order to completely understand the difference between those who succeed and those who don't, we must look into each person's individual background and determine how much of a role- family / friendships (guidance), culture, society (opportunity), and environment has played on their life as a whole.