I Am Black
Brown
White
I Speak A Different Language
But I Must Be Respected
Protected
Never Rejected
I Am
God’s Child
I Am
Somebody
Jesse Jackson
I’m not saying that everyone that is famous for doing something is purely lucky. S/he probably worked hard. Often s/he is a smart cookie. But as Malcolm Gladwell discussed in his book Outliers: The Story of Success, there are loads of smart people who work hard who have ended up obscure, unknown and, quite often, unfortunate. Some of the defining characteristics of the people who have become ‘somebodies’ in Gladwell’s book are:
- Being born on the right date
- Being in the right place at the right time (Gates had unique access to computers at a young age)
- Taking an opportunity that was presented to them (usually a unique opportunity)
Even those who spent 10,000 hours at their craft towards success usually required some unique opportunity presented to them to get there. If Gates had lived somewhere else growing up, missing out on the early access to computer programming experience, he may not have had the idea to start Microsoft. The underlying thread to most of the stories of success that are out there is chance. The actor who was discovered because a talent scout was buying a cup of coffee where they worked. The entrepreneur whose business took a lucky turn when they connected to the right people or someone influential came across their product by chance and told the world about it.
But it isn’t ALL chance. You can’t just sit back and wait for luck to take it’s course. There are ways in which you can open yourself to these awesome opportunities. You can get out into the world more often, meet more people, volunteer, pursue your passion, do nice things for others, open yourself up to new (and sometimes uncomfortable) situations and remain flexible and aware enough to recognize the unique opportunities that present themselves to you. You should also realize that every ‘nobody’ you meet could become a ‘somebody’ overnight. So be careful as to who you dismiss.
The cult of the somebody is an interesting phenomenon to me. It’s good to celebrate someone’s success…absolutely. And great to learn from the success of others is also positive. But to imagine oneself as lesser because of someone else’s success is not such a positive outcome. It’s more than a little cliché to say “We all put our pants on one leg at a time”, but it’s true. The only thing separating somebodies and nobodies is that somebodies had an opportunity and seized it with a fantastic outcome. And that opportunity could present itself to you at any time.
So the best thing to do is to ask yourself, “Will I be ready when that opportunity presents itself? Will I recognize it? Will I persevere even if I fall on my face?” and then realize that everybody is a somebody at the end of the day, so the best thing that you can do is to support others with finding their opportunities, too.
Malcolm Gladwell cites Bill Gates being one of the first high school kids EVER to have put in ten thousand hours of personal computer time before going to college.
This is a total urban myth. I met Bill Gates and Paul Allen (the OTHER guy who founded Microsoft and the better programmer of the two) in the 70s after Bill had briefly attended Harvard. There were no personal computers for Bill to have put 10,000 hours into. Granted, there were S-100s, SS-50s and Altairs (which Paul and Bill wrote their first BASIC for), but 10,000 hours of PC time for Bill (or Paul or anyone else in that era) never happened.
I know. I was there. I ran the Seattle Computer Society and met all manner of later-to-be-famous geeks.
A legal scholar and acquaintance of mine, Robert Keatinge, often says “chance favors the prepared mind.” I think that gets to the heart of this post and Galdwell’s thesis. Is luck important? Absolutely. But you have to be able to recognize that luck is happening in order to make it successful.
I take a little exception to the tone… I truly believe that “when opportunity knocks, preparation opens the door”. It is more about persperation than a fairy showing up with a golden wand. Opportunity passes by people all the time because they don’t recognize it and that is because they haven’t been working for it. “It’s too good to be true”. I like what Henry Ford said: “If you think you can or, you think you can’t, you’re probably right”.
Mike Walters
Hey Mike,
I totally agree on the hard work. All I’m saying is that even with hard work, some people just don’t get those opportunities. Mostly I’m thinking about it from a personal place. I’ve been SUPER fortunate. SUPER. I had a book deal from a major publisher. I get paid to speak (which I love doing). I don’t even have to ‘work’ anymore. Why? Mostly because of chance encounters with people along the way. And how did that happen? Well, I put myself out there and worked hard and kept myself open to it…but I know TONS of people who have worked harder than me and are out there and open just as much as I am who haven’t had those opportunities. That’s why I think I’ve gotten lucky.
Tara
Isn’t the notion of “luck” in near direct conflict with a big part of what makes people happy–a sense of control? Isn’t there evidence that overemphasizing luck has a negative impact on motivation and even the nature of the work we do?
And while I DO agree that so much of how we do in our life is indeed based on chance, we can have a HUGE impact on shifting the odds. And it is the degree to which we believe we can shift them that can make us more–or less–happy. There’s a big difference between “being open to opportunities” and–as Alan Kay says, “inventing the future.” We can’t control everything, but to say that people who do things we are unable to do are simply lucky — well, that’s not only potentially insulting to those who worked their ass off to overcome low odds… it’s also disheartening to those who are trying to overcome unfortunate circumstances.
Some of the world’s most seemingly “gifted” musicians, for example, keep trying to tell people that they were “average” musicians, but “gifted” at the stubborn desire to Just Keep Practicing despite NO evidence they were ever going to be any better. Or those who laugh when described as “overnight sensations” after slogging away for a decade before being “discovered”. For every person who was “lucky” to have the opportunity to put in the time to get really good, there’s another who simply worked differently, struggling AGAINST the odds to find a way to put in the time or even take shortcuts.
We can’t judge ourselves based on the success of others — I agree — but those who believe they are in control — even when it’s irrational to do so — ARE generally seen as happier, at least that’s my interpretation of some of the happiness studies you have cited in the past. Classic study example: those who *believe* there is a reasonable chance can solve a problem that’s technically not solvable spend more time working at it. Yes it’s pointless to work on things we can’t change, but “success” often happens in that grey area… where it’s not fully within our control, but not entirely chance, either. The degree to which we believe it’s within our power — not a dice roll — often determines how likely we are to do what’s necessary to improve the odds we’ll be able to do what we set out to do… or at least feel we learned something useful.
There’s much talk about this in the role of self-esteem and kids, too… parents are now being told to praise kids based NOT on things related to chance/luck (genetic qualities, etc.) but only over things the kid actually has control over (how long/hard they worked, etc.)
I enjoyed and learned a lot from Outliers, but a true outlier is–by definition–*freakishly* successful and/or lucky, and does not reflect the outcomes most of us non-outliers might want and be able to achieve.
It IS great advice to learn to be more aware of and open to opportunities as they happen. But I believe even better advice is to quit waiting and start getting creative about how to *make* opportunities. I would not underestimate the role of brute force trial and error. : )
I think the idea of luck plays a very interesting role. When I was younger, I was so feckless I had no idea that opportunities were being offered me, so I thought I had no luck, and acted like an unlucky person.
One day, a friend told me I was “perceived as a loser” in a certain professional context. This was the proverbial 2X4 upside the head – while I didnn’t see myself as lucky, I certainly didn’t think myself a loser. So I worked on haning my attitude.
surprisingly, changing the attitude (getting a more positive mind set) also helps you recognize opportunities when they come around. That was a good 40 years ago.
Today, I think I am one of the lucckiest people in the world, and successful in the best sense of the word as expressed in the previous post.
In short, luck is also a question of attitude.
Tara,
Great post. I totally agree – and from a community building standpoint, it’s important to remember that nobodies can quickly become tomorrow’s somebodies that have a significant impact to you and your brand. Spreading a little bit-o whuffie now can make a much bigger impact on a nobody that reaps huge rewards down the line.
There’s an old saying, “Luck is where preparation meets opportunity.”
I think it was Colin Fletcher, author of “The Complete Walker” in the 70′s, who cited a supposedly Persian Proverb:
“Fortune is infatuated with the efficient.”
I totally agree with you when you say you’ve gotten lucky Tara – but you’ve “made” your luck, taken your chances, moved where you thought you needed to.
The premise of Outliers is drivel – it’s like Gladwell decided the outcome and then bent all the info to fit it. The difference between Gates & Allen and everyone else who attended the classes described in the book is that they had the drive & vision that the others didn’t. Because everyone else in the group came from the same social & economic background. Ditto Steve Jobs – in Mountain View at a certain time, why did nobody else do what he has done?There were 100′s of groups playing in Hamburg – what made the Beatles different? That they played so many hours? Just the same as every other group there. Talent, genius, luck? Take your pick. Or maybe it was Brian Epstein.
I love this post and I totally agree!
Have an awesome weekend.