According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, high levels of success require opportunity just as much or more than individual merit. However, this is not the case; to achieve success one must be determined to make their success happen no matter the situation they’re in. Gladwell states in Outliers in chapter 8 that, “Success is a function of persistence and doggedness and the willingness to work hard for twenty-two minutes to make sense of something that most people would give up on after thirty seconds.” Life isn’t handed to you on a silver platter, even with opportunity one must work make themselves an outlier. A real world example of someone achieving their goals based on diligence is my Uncle. My Uncle lives in Brooklyn, NY he was a police officer for many years and when he retired he worked hard to open up a business with his best friend. With perseverance, the business was thriving and he was …show more content…
In the book there was a character named Rashid. Rashid’s character was all about individual merit; there was no waiting around for life to do what it will, Rashid took life by the reins. An example of Rashid’s willpower is shown in chapter 9 section 2 of On Wings of Eagles Rashid states, “Rashid smashed the glass with his gun, then started to attack the brickwork in which the bars were embedded...Soon the bars came out and fell to the ground. Rashid wriggled through the window. He was inside! Anything was possible” (290). In this instance, Rashid and some other townspeople are on the streets of Iran during the Iranian Revolution. Rashid had convinced the townspeople to help him break into the prison and free the prisoners of the regime. Instead of hoping they’d be freed by someone else, Rashid took matters into his own hands and made things