I actually worked at a small company where most of the employees were TJHSST graduates. I didn’t fit in, and decided to leave after 4 months, because I was the non-workaholic of the bunch. Does TJ cause workaholism, or does an affinity for workaholism draw one to TJ? I don’t know, but it wasn’t me.

Just like WWII, this is a case where I sometimes think about how things would have turned out if events had unfolded differently. Still, no regrets.

I would have recommended you apply, because you could have always chosen to back out and go to your home school if you didn’t like it (also, only about 20% of applicants get in anyway, so it’s likely you wouldn’t have even had the option). However, by not applying you closed that door. That was the choice we gave him: apply; if you get in, give it a semester; if it’s not working, then you can leave and go back to your home school. Low risk choice with a potential high payoff and a safety valve. Although he had a tough first couple of months, he is very happy now with his decision.

In general it is often prudent to start down a path that has a great reward at the end and that is easy to abandon than to not start down the path at all. You cannot reverse the decision if you make the choice to not even start.
Congrats on getting into UVA, and good luck to you.

malcolm gladwell = legend status.

i kinda like that it’s not a how to. well, it kinda is. it’s more a how-to-think than the conventional how-to-do

haha. i think everyone wanted more detail on the 10000 hour rule. but thing is: you need to actually put in the 10000hours. more detail is just an excuse to delay. get stuck in. research and throw yourself at it. if you’re still stuck at the 1000 hour mark, send him an email.

awwwsome site all round.

keep well and in touch
alex – unleash reality

@ Natalie, I’m sure that 10,000 hours of stress and pressure can’t do much for you, so yeah, you might as well “follow your bliss.”

@ Armen, I’ve heard some people say that his other books were even better, so I’m going to look into them. Surprise is good, but I think we always have that no matter what.

I enjoyed reading Outliers. I will likely read any new book Mr. Gladwell puts out. The point about the trade-off is one I am glad you brought to light. We usually don’t point out much about the decisions we make, but they are the difference between being in one circumstance or a completely different one, like in your academic example.

Also, I think knowing too much of what will happen is somewhat demotivating, as we look to have at least some sense of surprise along the way, so we don’t normally think in detail about the path we are heading through.

Sacrificing childhood experiences to become an outlier is probably the way to go for those who don’t see themselves benefiting from childhood experiences, whether or not they are right at that point.

Ha… Hunter, if you ever want to learn, you can pop me an email whenever you have questions. I’m pretty fluent in both Mandarin (the official Chinese language) and Cantonese.

Cheers~

Mark