Outliers, Success And The Law of Attraction
I just read a great book, Outliers by Malcom Gladwell. It’s a look at success beyond the myth of rugged individual achievement. The reason I wanted to take the time to write about this is because I have just been reading an interesting discussion about the Law of Attraction and I think that this book explains thegaps in the misunderstood concept.
The Law of Attraction tells us that we get what we focus on. This is often misunderstood and thought to mean that it is our thoughts that create manifestations. They do, but not in the simplistic way that many people think.
So let’s put together the ideas from Outliers and The Law of Attraction.
Outliers says that genius level success comes from 10,000 hours practice and the right circumstances aligning. For example, in the case of Hockey Players that means being born in the first three months. For the Beatles, that meant being known by someone that met someone who wanted bands to play for 8 hours at a time 7 days a week in Hamburg.
photo credit: Thunder Thumbs
The Law of Attraction says that success comes from focused thought and a positive emotional state. In other words, when you take something seriously enough to practice even 1,000 hours, you are tuning yourself into that wavelength. Maintaining a positive emotional state, is what I call being a high bandwidth state, meaning happy, free of stress and pursuing your passions.
Then stuff just goes right for you. You bump into people who are looking for someone just like you. You are compelled to look in a bookshop and find the solution you are looking for. A Talent Scout gets inspired to drop into the club your band is playing at tonight.
photo credit: nicolasnova
The Law of Attraction is the intelligence of the universe that creates the connections to help you achieve success. To get that working for you, you just have to live happily. But that is the true meaning of Law of Attraction. The lucky circumstances.
What people mostly talk about as The Law of Attraction in books like ‘The Secret’ is the idea that you can get success you are unqualified for. Life will never give you what you do not deserve.
You won’t get to be a Doctor without gaining the knowledge to be a Doctor. You won’t get to be a Pop Idol without the technical ability. So you need to have the skills which come with dedicated practice.
But equally as Gladwell demonstrates vividly with his story of Chris Langham, neither will you get to be successful solely through talent and skill. You also need the circumstances and luck. This is where the Law of Attraction, plays it’s part.
[...] just finished reading a fantastic book called Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. In it he demolishes the myth of natural brilliance and discusses how [...]
[...] Secret’ was based on, I’m pretty familiar and aligned with the ideas contained in the law of attraction though. To sum up, the idea is that you focus on what you want and by maintaining a happy and [...]