Outliers

I decided to read the book Outliers. My dad gave me this book a couple years ago and it put it on my shelf to gather dust. I made a huge mistake in that. I wish I had read it years ago. I totally agree with what Gladwell said about how uncontrollable factors contribute to peoples success and how hard work and perseverance does not ensure success. The tech industry is a perfect example of this. The person that springs to mind is Bill Gates. Yes he was smart and worked hard, but he was born at exactly the right time to make the impact he did. If he had been born at the time I was born, maybe he would have been successful, but not nearly as influential as he was because he got started at the cusp of the computer age. It is important for me as a person soon entering the professional world to identify outliers in myself, the economy, and my industry in order to best prepare for my future. I can't just rely on my natural intelligence, hard work, and perseverance. These qualities are of course important, but to really become successful, I must find a niche that most benefits me and exploit it.