outliers.

My latest literary conquest is a book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. He is also the author of The Tipping Point and Blink. Gladwell also writes for the New Yorker, so I've also been going through some of his old articles. His style of writing is fun to read and the content is engrossing.

Outliers basically is about individuals in the 99th percentile, OF LIFE! Billionaires, professional musicians, software geniuses, professional athletes. The book describes how these people reached the pinnacle of their fields.

The twist is that Gladwell shows these individuals were not just born with an overwhelming innate ability that led them to where they are now. He describes the circumstances that allowed them to develop that ability.

The success of an outlier Gladwell says, "is not exceptional or mysterious. It is grounded in a web of advantages and inheritances, some deserved, some not, some earned, some just plain lucky---- but all critical to making them who they are. The outlier, in the end, is not an outlier at all."

disclaimer : Even Gladwell says there are some people who just have such an extreme ability that they stand out and achieve greatness quickly. BUT, the majority of outliers are the result of circumstances and lucky breaks that helped them reach their potential.

I find this book so interesting because I have often wondered what it would take to be in the 99th percentile of anything, but mostly bboying. What would be necessary for me to reach that point?

According to Gladwell most professionals have logged about 10,000 hours of intense practice before reaching that level. 10,000 hours! What was the last thing you practiced for 10,000 hours?

The 10,000 theory got me wondering how many hours I've logged dancing.... so here's the math:

I began breakdancing the end of my Sophomore year of High School, which means technically I have been dancing for about a little over 9 years. Wow. Ok, so here's the hourly breakdown of the past 9 years of dancing....
Sophomore year: 10 hours
Junior year: 20 hours
Senior Year: 40 hours
BYU1: 40 hours
Mission1: 1 hour
Mission2: 1 hour
BYU2: 120 hours
BYU3: 140
BYU4: 400 hours
BYU5: (yes it took me 5 years) 400 hours

They're rough estimates... and I rounded up a little on most just to be safe. But my grand total of hours practiced comes to : 1172 hours.

Sooooo.... I'm a little short on hours. Dang. Not only am I short on hours, but I'm short on advantages. I never lived around anyone who truly knew how to breakdance until my first year at BYU. Huge disadvantage. Basically I will never be a professional bboy. I think I knew that already though. It just sucks seeing the numbers verify this truth.

Think about the thing you're most passionate about and calculate the hours.... it's amazing to see how much time you've invested into something.

Go read Outliers and you'll see that your success or lack thereof is more circumstantial than you might think....

honeymoon with my brother....

I just finished reading a book titled “Honeymoon with My Brother.” I bought the book because my boss Tom mentioned it in a meeting last week. He described his friend Franz Wisner, the author, as a man who had everything, lost it and set out to travel the world with his brother. I set a goal this year to read 24 books, two books a month. This was number eight. Easily the best book I have read in a long time. I don’t care if you hate reading, you should read it.

Here’s a snippet from the close of the book:
“A friend e-mailed me during our stop in Cambodia. He wanted to know if the country was suitable for children. Absolutely, I responded, feeling it would be beneficial for kids to see their counterparts playing happily in front of one-room tin-roof shacks. They could learn a lot from the poor. So could their parents. I know I have.”

I have read many times about the conditions of poverty in other countries. I have seen the pictures of the starving children. And I have heard the stories of the people who despite facing a life-long uphill struggle smile at the beginning of each day.

This post was originally going to be a bitter diatribe about how unfair life is and how I want to just leave everything behind and travel the world. About how I want to experience the things I have read and seen pictures of.

How selfish.

I was born in a country that allows me many freedoms. Most importantly, the freedom to practice my religion. The Lord has blessed me beyond measure. He has many things in store for me, but at the moment, traveling is not one of them. I will travel someday, I know it. But at this very moment there are things I need to do with my life to be of service here, both in and out of the Church. And there are things I need to do with my life to help prepare me to raise a family.

Raise a family? Me?

I’ll never be ready for that. Ever. But I have put off preparing myself for it long enough.

So, what am I going to do? Great question. I’m still waiting for the Lord to keep open the doors that need to stay open and to close the doors that need to close.

What’s open right now?
*Grad school (at least until I meet with Sister Walton and get her advice)
*SchoolTipline (As long as we can work out the salary I asked for)
*SecurityOne (as long as I can sell in LA)
*Possibly the Chevron project Tom is arranging.
*Kristin (although who knows how long that will last if she keeps reading my candid posts
to this blog)

Doors recently closed?
*Around the world trip involving the selling of all my possessions
*Hannah (A tender mercy of the Lord)
*Dental equipment sales in Ventura

So I have no idea what’s going to happen. The next few weeks will be interesting to say the least. But I’m making sure that I let the Lord take the reins on this one. I will move forward towards the open doors until he shuts them and guides me somewhere else.