Many people are devoting themselves to researching the reasons why a small number of people become more successful than others in their working over the years. Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, points out three main factors that an individual must possesses to be excellent: qualifying enough specialized knowledge by doing mass exercise, being in the proper environment in the proper era and being influenced by family members or national culture. In my point of view, a lot of expertise is the basic element for success while opportunities and culture, although not so important as expertise, also have essential effects on one’s life.

First of all, professional knowledge is definitely the most significant factor for succeed in individual’s field. In Gladwell’s book, Bill Joy, Mozart, the Beatles, Bill Gates and the rosters of the Czech and Canadian national sports teams all practiced more than 10000 hours before they became experts or leaders in their working areas. 10000 hours must not be an exact number, but undoubtedly, long time of exercise on one specific study can provide mass specialized knowledge which can not be gained by other ways or by less time of study. What is also important is that people should determine one certain purpose and career at beginning so that they could meet the enough demand of practice without paying extra attention on other working.

Secondly, it is really important to be in the proper place and time. If the players of hockey game in Canada were not born in January, February or March; If the Beatles did not get the chance to perform 8 hours everyday in Hamburg; If Bill Gates did not have a computer terminal in his school; If the software tycoons were not born in 1950s, they may not became so successful in their fields, in other words, they might choose other jobs. However, in my eyes, everyone has their own opportunities and the difference is that whether they can seize the opportunity and make good use of them. That is why the others who attend the same university and share the Computer Center with Bill Joy did not become expertise on computer. Therefore, having the ability to grasp opportunities and utilizing the opportunities to maximize individual’s strengths is more important than meeting opportunities.

Thirdly, family education and national culture does have considerable effects on one’s