Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

Outliers - Book by Malcolm Gladwell


SA Friday

Recommended Posts

Really good book. He discusses his theories on how people place too much emphasis on genetics or a person being special to become one of the hyper-successful. He relates there are identifiable external factors that lead to the individual becoming successful. He relates there is basically a cut-off to being, smart enough, fast enough, big enough, etc. Once that threshold of 'good-enough' is met then unique external factors come into play that develop the Outlier.

One of the biggest unique factors that comes into play is the ability of one (or a small group) to be able to practice a skill set when nobody else is. They have a unique opportunity and to take advantage of that skill for thousands of hours of practice. The magic number of practice hours seems to be about 10,000 hours.

I saw a huge correlation of other Outliers and BE/TGO, Randi Rogers, and Julie G from what little I know of their backgrounds. I also found other aspects of the book that correlate to current shooting too. It's not so much about individual growth, but how we view the hyper-successful in their respective skill. Changing our perspective on what makes one an Outlier directly affects how we can make more outliers or even raise the bar for everyone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
Man have I got a lot of work to do.... :surprise:

That makes two of us. This goes to show why it takes yeas of dryfire practice to get to A or master status in any given Division.

I made A in less than a year and am going to make M here this summer. Total dryfire, maybe an hour or two. :P At the same time I put around 150k downrange though. :o

I figure I have something like 2,500 hours in practicing in that time... that's a guess though as I don't log time.

Edited by JThompson
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ya, but A and M class are NOT outliers. TGO, BE, Julie G, Athena, TJ, Vogel, Sevigny... These are Outliers, the best of the best. The ones who can consistantly perform and beat everyone else.

I didn't quote that... I quoted the guy saying years of dryfire to make A.

My wrist is screwed, so If I'm going to be hurting anyway I'll do it putting lead down range. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gladwell has interesting observations. And always has. I, like the rest of the world, enjoyed tipping point. Blink was definitly a land slide below Tipping Point for me. It was a good book, but not as revolutionary for me. Which has caused me to not go buy outliers. Based on this feedback I'll reconsider. I love learning.

The idea that I'm hearing in this thread is not something outwardly revolutionary though. If any of you read the article in (lost rag) Gungames a hundred years ago you would hear similar themes. The first mag was an interview with Rob and he openly discussed this idea that thousands of people could do a sub one second draw - just like him. The difference was that he could do a sub-one second draw 100 times in a row. Without thinking about it.

It's odd the way the human brain works. I'll share a personal story that I may have shared here a time or two before. Not sure, but it's a great self check for me.

Years ago I got caught up in Golf. I play less today, but for about two years there I was pretty serious about the game. I picked up several books, took a lesson or two at the local course, practiced chipping in the front yard every night and went to the driving range two or three times a week. All to say that I was very dedicated to the game. Those that know me know I generally don't dip the toe in the water . . .

One core component of a golf swing is turning the shoulders. Read all you can, take all the lessons you can - turning your shoulders in the swing is pretty important. And I knew this. As much as I knew anything, I knew the shoulder turn was core to the swing.

Year two of this fascination my wife buys me an ESPN gift certificate to a Hank Haney golf school sponsored by Nike. A few weeks later a buddy and I are headed to Dallas to learn how to play golf from the good guys.

The first hour is swing assessment. So I get up there and I've been striking the ball pretty well so I was feeling confident. Not cocky - I was there to learn - but I felt good about taking my game to the next level. I took ONE swing. One! The instructor looks at me and is like "we gotta rebuild some here - you aren't turning your shoulders"

That's the revelation for me. I knew what I needed to do. I'd heard it. I'd read it. I thought I was doing it. But I wasn't. And I never took every step to insure that I was doing it. Even though I knew it was critically important. It was astounding to me that I wasn't doing something that I'd read about 100 times and I KNEW was crucially important. I simply was NOT doing it.

Same with shooting. To this day I've never measured, or tried, to do 100 sub-one second draws in a row. Today it would be a goal just to do a few. Point is, 10 years ago I was very (VERY) active in this game - and I didn't do it then. I should have though. Even if one shouldn't take the statement literally - the fundamental thought process was there and out in the open for all to learn from.

Todd Jarrett at a world shoot talked about luck. How people sometimes said luck went his way and he simply assured all of us that he worked to insure when luck was in play it went his way.

The answers to success are all around us. Everyday. Hell, this forum has all the answers one could need to be a national champion. The trick is to find them, read them, and the INTEGRATE them. Make them yours, make them real, and the inevitable success will happen.

Jack

***I'll apologize for the thread drift. I went back and read this and realize it has less to do with the topic than what I intended when starting***

Edited by j1b
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 years later...
  • 1 year later...
  • 1 month later...
  • 4 months later...

I know this thread started quite a while ago, but "Outliers" is very good and I really recommend the spoken version on audible.  "The Heart of Meditation" is another good spoken book to listen to on the way to a shoot, as well.  A very different category, however. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...