Pure Genius vs. Hard Work

November 19th, 2008 by eyal | Filed under Personal development. | Print This Post Print This Post

Extract from Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: Is there such a thing as pure genius? | Books | The Guardian

The Beatles ended up travelling to Hamburg five times between 1960 and the end of 1962. On the first trip, they played 106 nights, of five or more hours a night. Their second trip they played 92 times. Their third trip they played 48 times, for a total of 172 hours on stage. The last two Hamburg stints, in November and December 1962, involved another 90 hours of performing. All told, they performed for 270 nights in just over a year and a half. By the time they had their first burst of success in 1964, they had performed live an estimated 1,200 times, which is extraordinary. Most bands today don’t perform 1,200 times in their entire careers. The Hamburg crucible is what set the Beatles apart.

Interesting facts, and we all like to believe these type of hypothesis and that we can all “make it” out there and become whatever we want. It’s a good attitude to have. Nevertheless, on top of the X% perspiration there’s an another unknown Y% pure talent, and Z% of luck.

H/T to Andy Swan via his Twitter.

Other possibly related posts:

Share Your Thoughts