Would Have Never Thought...

I just finished reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell recently and like his last two books Tipping Point and Blink, I thought it was totally awesome! Like Gladwell was talking about, when we traditionally hear about success stories, it's always about how someone came from nothing or near poverty to becoming extremely successful and wealthy.

These legendary tales are always great and inspiring but Outliers takes a deeper look at the story of success and what other influencing factors are present but often overshadowed by the "started from nothing and became great" storyline. For instance, why is it that almost all hockey players in the NHL are born in the first 3 months of the year? Why was being Jewish such an advantage in New York during it's early development? What's so important about 10,000 hours? And my personal favorite among others, what does picking rice have to do with Asians being good at math? It's a really neat story of success!

I was telling my friend about the book and he asked, "So if you aren't born in a specific month, or don't come from a rice farming culture, or didn't grow up in New York during a certain time, does that mean that you can't become successful?"

I don't think Outliers is about discouraging others but rather by empowering its readers with an awareness of certain things that also come into play in the story of success.

Not everyone can play in the NBA or be an F1 Racecar Driver. But something I'm absolutely positive about is that we can all be great at something. Every single individual has gifts that no one else has, and therefore can influence others in a way that no one else can. It's all about building up the awareness to catch on to the clues that Life presents everyday. Observing our feelings, interactions with others, and what get's us excited is what guides us towards what we're meant to do, or rather, who we're meant to be, and then ultimately, who we're meant to be for others.

Being the President of the United States may not be what's in store but we can be a respectful son, an encouraging brother, a loving mother, a supportive significant other, a responsible father, an uplifting friend...

No man is an island. We all influence others so as we go through discovering ourselves everyday, we can all be succesful through HOW we do what we do and WHO we're BE-ing for other people.

More great stuff and people COMING SOON!

Mike Yang