“It is not the brightest who succeed. Nor is success simply the sum of the decisions and efforts we make on our own behalf. It is, rather, a gift. The successful are those who have been given opportunities — and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.”
- Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers
I finished reading Outliers a while ago and meant to post this quote earlier. It was a pretty interesting book, similar to his past two that string together a bunch of seemingly unrelated things that make sense together. Although sometimes it seems like you want to say, “well, yeah of course” to some of his conclusions. but this was one part near the end when he’s wrapping it up. It’s not a particularly new and mind blowing concept, but I just really liked how well he was able to phrase that philosophy. Success is a collaborative process. I def. feel like it’s true, especially looking back in my own life and recounting all the opportunities I’ve been able to seize that got me to where I am today. And it makes me more inspired to turn around and find ways to give other people the opportunity to succeed. Whether or not they take those opportunities is up to them, but I’d like to do what I can to make that possible.