I would debate one point though, you say "Gladwell is suggesting that no matter how hard you work, if you don’t have the special advantages that a select few have, then there’s no chance you’ll be successful". I read it more positively than you do (there’s a first for everything ) as he’s advocating, especially with the 10,000 hr rule, that you need to have talent but those at the top of their game have talent too. The difference is the amount of practice/effort you put in.

This I agree with. I don’t think you can be a superstar golfer if you don’t have talent in the first place. but many have talent, you just have to work hard to be exceptional beyond your contemporaries.

No need to be “de-motivating”, everyone has a talent and if you want to be successful you should take yours and excel.

This reminds me of a realisation that I had about myself a few years back. I’ve always gotten by on talent alone. I wonder what would happen if I actually applied effort into creating circumstance too. I think circumstances “appear” after much effort (maybe even 10,000hrs worth of effort).

I always loved the quote “luck is where preparation meets circumstance”. This theme is constantly appearing to me as I read Outliers.

-mk
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