Ideas on success

Its comforting to many of us to think that a person's success is down to hard work, perseverance and passion. But what if it is more than that? What if there are elements of our chances of success that are beyond our control?

The author Malcolm Gladwell has written about success and how there is more to the phenomenon than just the individual. Did you know that most outrageously rich computer tycoons (Bill Gates, Stephen Jobs) were born in 1954/55? That made them just the right age when the personal computer revolution arrived in 1975 to take full advantage. A little older and they would have been too stuck in the old perceptions of computers, a little younger and others would have filled the places they forged for themselves.

Success is also influenced by the opportunities we are presented with. Practice makes perfect right? Well The Beatles had hundreds of hours performing on stage in sleazy Hamburg clubs before anyone else had ever heard of them. So when they travelled to the States and hit the international music stage, they were ready to go, lightyears head in performance ability compared with other emerging artists. And their chance to perform in Hamburg was just lucky chance.

Many of us think that we would have liked to have played an instrument. Maybe we took it up but never got very good so gave up. Well it seems that while talent is important, practice is paramount. There are little if no cases of musicians who practice little and are just naturally gifted. Level of mastery is directly related to the level of practice. So really, we should have just practiced more. But maybe we never had the chance, maybe we had to work while the greats spent their hours practicing. Maybe if we had just started training a little earlier...

This all seems rather obvious when written out like this. So why don't people have more to say about it? It seems to me that when the credit of success is taken away from the individual, it takes away our dream that that could be us. That if we just work hard enough for long enough then we could be that successful person. Unfortunately, at least part of it is beyond our control.

But then again, Gladwell may have more illuminating ideas on success and how to manipulate circumstances to your advantage. After all I haven't finished the book yet. In any event, I really hope he does.