December 1, 2021 –
I am thinking about a book I read in 2008 by Malcolm Gladwell. The “Outliers” states, “If we want to understand how some people survive, we should spend more time looking around them—such things as their family, their place or even their birthdate.”
I recognize I am not a Gladwell, but I wrote a book in 2016, and I want to share some ideas from my book, “Walk with God,” that supports the unique effect of outliers. There are the 4E’s that help determine an outlier’s values.
By the time a person becomes a teenager, they have developed a unique value system. Four significant forces have enhanced and defined this system:
- Experience. The conscious events that make up an individual’s life.
- Entourage. One’s parents, teachers, and peers. The ones with whom you “hang.”
- Education. The knowledge and development result from an educational process.
- Environment. Background, past and present surroundings.
These four E’s also act as values protectors or filters concerning future sensory data you incur. Sensory data attempting to change your value system faces two challenges: First, you filter data that does not fit your value system, thus restricting the flow of information. Second, sensory data that fits your value system not only quickly passes through the filters but is enhanced as it comes through, thus creating an illusion of even more outstanding support for a value or values.
Because the 4E’s shape our values, we need to:
- Learn from the right experiences.
- Be open to the right educational opportunities.
- Be in the right environment.
- Associate with the right people.