Do you ever wonder about what success is and how to achieve it? As I think about those questions I found “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell to be intriguing because the book challenges the notion that immense success comes just from immense amounts of talent and hard work. Gladwell contends that “real success” also needs timing, opportunity, and culture to symbiotically and coincidently come together.
Here’s a representative quote:
“Superstar lawyers and math whizzes and software entrepreneurs appear at first blush to lie outside ordinary experience. But they don’t. They are products of history and community, of opportunity and legacy. Their success 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.”
So, does this mean that “real success” is beyond reach unless our life is full of a series of lucky coincidences? Not at all!
Defining Success
First, consider your definition of “real success.” To me, you don’t have to be a billionaire business leader or a super star athlete to be successful. For example, I know numerous people who have minimal net worth and couldn’t put a basketball through a hoop, but I would call them highly successful. They are happy, have loving families and faithful friends, and are making their community a better place.
Elements of Success
Second, as you aim for success think about the positive impact of hard work and careful choices. For example, in his book “Lost & Founder” Rand Fishkin says:
“We love to praise execution, as if executing well on any dumb old idea would take us somewhere. Sure. Immense dedication, skill, and the hard work of great people can overcome most obstacles. But choosing wisely at the start – the field, the approach, the customer target, the economic model, and the marketing methodologies – has a massive impact on the difficulties you will face and how forgiving the journey will be. Not everyone can afford the costs of starting over. Not everyone has the privilege of being able to test hypotheses willy-nilly. If you have a family, if you have debts, if your cost of failure is anything but zero, it makes sense to tread carefully.”
Working Toward Your Success
So, whether it is building a business or strengthening a family, coupling a clear definition of success with hard work and deliberate choices can lead you to… success!
Ask yourself:
- What is my definition of success?
- How hard am I willing to work for that success?
- What choices do I need to make?
AI Content Statement
The written content was 100% generated by me with AI generated editing suggestions provided by Claude 3.5 Sonnet. Any editing suggestions that were taken from Claude were implemented using my own words.
The hero image was generated without AI using Canva.