Just to keep track with my goal of reading at least 6 books this year, I really tried to finish this one. So, I found myself reading while falling in line every morning for the UP-SM jeep. It means 5 to 10 mins Monday to Friday.
I bought the book in the first place because of the title. Usually, when I run a regression analysis, I tend to disregard the outliers. I'm more focused on the normal distribution. This book though looks at the small dots that are simply further away from the clusters. Well, given that successful people are fewer than normal people, I guess Gladwell maybe right in categorizing them as outliers. But the irony of this book is that once he has isolated the outliers or the successful ones, he looked for the pattern and here he clusters the factors together - making them, his outliers, into part of the "normal distribution."
For Gladwell an outlier becomes one because of "...steady accumulation of advantages." Hence, a successful person is born in a certain era and place with a certain set of parents and a certain "something" while growing up. He cited, the Beatles, Bill Gates and Jewish lawyers in NYC during the late 1980s to 1990s as examples. It's not really unusual to learn that geniuses are not created overnight. In fact Gladwell, goes as far back as the circumstances and the evolution of a certain culture to determine the success of their people. AND yes, basically why Asians are generally good in Math.
I read Lea's (ehemm.... Salonga not Bron just to make it clear) resolutions before 2009 ends in her PDI column. I started thinking this is kinda old fashioned and I always end up frustrated when I don't get to strike these things at the end of the year. Maybe this is an exercise in futility but things are starting to slow down and I'm starting to feel mediocre so just to challenge myself here goes my list:
1. Read at least 6 books for the year - as in really read. I've been reading a lot from the net but most are fluff materials so just to make sure that I'll read all the books and plan to buy at Powerbooks or Fully Booked.
2. Continue to bring "bento" at the office. At the start of 2009, I ventured grudgingly on bringing baon for lunch at the office then I started to like the big savings that I get out of it, 
3. Be "visible" at least for Melissa on YM. Cecille has been in Singapore for more than 2 years, Lea in the Netherlands for more than 3 months and they're my friends as in forever but we never really find time to have regular chats. But since Melissa will be in the Netherlands too - and she's the "touchy-fee-ly" type of friend so I have to really buzz her.
4. Be more spontaneous - as in grab opportunities to do things that I don't normally do. In the words of Ma'am Zen, "Get out of your comfort zone!"
5. Travel to Egypt - I saw Lea's pictures in Greece (her dream destination since we were kids) and it got me into thinking, I should go to my dream destination too.
6. Wear a dress at the office. I own quite a number and they still have their tags on. Whenever I plan on putting one on for Friday - I end up taking it off - feeling too dressed up, 
7. Go to productive and useful internet sites and watch only one drama per season (better if Japanese).
8. Visit my tatay more often.
9. Embrace failures, rejections and disappointments so I can move on.
10. Be more hopeful.
