Outliers: the Story of Success Chapter Two: “The 10,000 Hour Rule”

Pre-Reading

1. Do you agree with the saying, “Practice makes perfect?” Or do you believe some people do not need much practice because they are naturally talented? Explain.

2. What do you think is more important when it comes to success: having talent or having a strong work ethic? Explain.

Part 1

1. What “state of the art” feature did the University of Michigan have in 1971?

2. What major, long-lasting accomplishment did Bill Joy achieve?

3. What does Bill Joy have in common with hockey players?

Part 2

4. Gladwell defines achievement as:

5. What did psychologist K. Anders Ericsson discover about the most successful violinists?

6. What was surprising about Ericsson’s study?

7. According to the findings of Ericsson’s study, after a student is enrolled in a prestigious music school, what is the greatest factor contributing to his or her success?

8. About how many years does it take to become a world-class pianist, chess player, or any other prodigy? Why does it take this amount of time?

9. Why is it so difficult to achieve a sufficient amount of practice to become an expert in something? What does someone need in order to obtain all these hours?

Part 3

10. Why was it so difficult for individuals in the 1960s and 1970s to become computer programming experts?

11. How was Bill Joy able to get so many hours of practice with computer programming?

13. What made playing in Hamburg a great opportunity for The Beatles?

a. It was the hometown of the hamburger. b. The band was forced to play for an immense amount of time. c. The gigs paid well, the acoustics were amazing, and the audiences were appreciative. d. They were able to play in a foreign country where no one knew who they were.

14. How many times did The Beatles perform in Hamburg?

a. 90 times b. 270 times c. 525 times d. 1,200 times

Part 5

15. What “amazing thing” happened at Bill Gates’s school, Lakeside?

a. Bill Joy visited as a guest speaker. b. The mothers group started a computer club. c. Bill Gates created Microsoft. d. The students learned computer programming with the computer-card system.

16. What did all of the opportunities that Bill Gates came across have in common?

a. They were all earned based on merit. b. They were all purchased with his parents wealth. c. They afforded him extra time to practice programming. d. They helped him to earn a hefty college scholarship.

17. To what does Bill Gates attribute his success?

a. His parents b. His teachers c. His own intellect d. A lucky series of events

Part 6

18. What does Gladwell find interesting about his list of the seventy- five richest people in human history?

a. Most of them made money by starting their own businesses. b. Fourteen of them were Americans born within nine years of one another. c. Many of them were related to famous presidents, kings, or world leaders. d. Some of them were college, or even high school, drop-outs.

19. How did being born between 1831 and 1840 contribute to the wealth and success of 14 of the top wealthiest Americans?

a. These individuals came of age during a huge transformation in the American economy. b. They were too young to go to war, so they survived the Civil War. c. They lived during a time when a college education wasn’t a necessity in the workplace. d. They lived before a time when e-commerce and the global economy presented extensive competition from foreign competitors.

20. What makes computer moguls Bill Gates’s, Paul Allen’s, Steve Ballmer’s, Steve Jobs’s, Eric Schmidt’s, and Bill Joy’s birth years ideal in terms of their future success?

a. They were born during the “good old days.” b. They were the oldest students in their class. c. They were the perfect age during the dawn of the personal computer age. d. They were born after World War II and before the Korean and Vietnam wars.

POST- Reading

1. Do you think Bill Gates deserves credit for all of his success? Why or why not?

2. If it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert, do you think anyone with this knowledge can make and carry about a plan to achieve this level of success? Why or why not?

Outliers: The Story of Success Chapter Two: “The 10,000 Hour rule”

Malcolm Gladwell argues that it takes successful people at least 10,000 of practice to become experts in their field.

Think about an accomplishment you would like to achieve and develop a plan for success.

 My goal is to ______by the age of ______.

My goal age:_____ - My current age _____= ______(A) years to achieve goal.

10,000 hours ÷ ______(A) = ______(B) hours of practice per year.

______(B) ÷ 12 months = ______(C) hours of practice per month.

______(C) ÷ 4 weeks= ______(D) hours of practice per week.

______(D) ÷ 7 days= ______(E) hours of practice per day.

 In order to become an expert, I would need to practice for:

______hours a days,

______days a week,

for ______years to achieve 10,000 hours by the time I am ______years old.

Typical Daily Schedule

Outline your typical day, currently, hour-by-hour. You may group extended activities, like school or sleep, together.

TIME ACTIVITY