Introduction

Have you ever wondered why some people are so skilful, brilliant or so good at what they do? You do admire successful people like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Jordan, Stephen King, Serena Williams, to mention a few. Outliers, as they are known, have more than just talents working for them. Their success is as a result of so many factors, which you need to understand for a fresh perspective.

You begin to wonder why you have not got any of these skills to a professional level. Some of the things to put into consideration are; where you were born, what was happening at the time, and what were people passionate about while growing up. Consequently, If we take a critical look at the lives of successful people, relative to the environment they grew up in and what was happening at that time. It might help us analyse the things needed for success, as against just looking at them as individuals.

Opportunity

Imagine children born in this era of rapid technological advancement, with programming been at the core of it. The opportunity is more open for them to succeed in it, since learning it is easily accessible now. A parent won’t have to look far to join the train of those with kids who code. It goes to show that the children are already favoured, born at the time when STEM education can reach them. Those who begin to learn to code at an early age will soon become proficient in it, older generations could not benefit from this.

Although, programming has been around since, it just became really known in Nigeria. There are so many STEM centres operating in Nigeria, especially during the summer holiday. In Lagos we have WAAW Foundation Bootcamp, in Port Harcourt there is 9jacodekids, and in Abuja, there is STEM CLUB. Emerging professions are always updated on the internet, so we are not in the dark with what is going on, in any part of the world. The internet has made information accessible.

Success takes more than Intelligience

We often believe success is solely for the gifted; a quality owned from birth. You must have come across people, you thought would be successful due to their brainpower. Disappointment happens due to the emphasis placed on intelligence, neglecting the hard work and the mentorship towards it. IQ alone cannot make someone successful; they have to work hard to ingrain it. Looking at the life of someone like Dangote, he was not known to be the best in school. Intelligence does play a role, but the highest IQ doesn’t equate the most successful.

In other words, we should lay more emphasis on what matters, letting children know that hard work and persistence are as significant as having a bright mind.

Cultural/Environmental Factors

In addition, exposure matters a lot. A child who has been exposed to a lot of books, by parents who are in the Academia, then go on to become a writer, journalist, lecturer or something in that line shouldn’t come as a surprise to us. Let us take a look at Chimamanda Adichie; her parents were staff of the University of Nigeria, her father was a professor of statistics, while her mother was the university's first female registrar. It goes to show that her childhood exposure has contributed to her success as a writer.

Naturally, we would not expect a cattle rearer to be well acquainted with the best season for planting tomatoes, but he is expected to be knowledgeable about the breed types and other things cattle related. Considering this and other factors to be learnt, we can influence the chance of success of our children. Therefore, We have to make a conscious effort to expose them to things that are beneficial in the long term.

The 10,000 hr rule

The time spent in performing a particular task is also a contributory factor to success. Consistency, improvement and practice are essential criteria for achievement. Lionel Messi for instance was exposed to football at an early age. he was always playing football with his older siblings. Messi joined a local football club, Grandoli at the age of four. It shows that timely exposure is vital, and practising often is also key. Another example is Serena Williams, who also started practising tennis at the age of four. The starting ages are not just a coincidence, It proves that starting early is crucial.

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Outlier: a person or thing differing from all other members of a particular group.

what are you focused on? and how does the 10000hr rule apply to you?

Has anyone read the Outlier? what is your opinion about the book