10, 000 hours

There are several myths about success:

1. Hard working entrepreneur pulls himself up by his bootstraps, works hard at an original idea for a few years, and becomes a hugely successful businessman. But there are many hard working entrepreneurs who never make it.

2. Born into the right family with the right connections and a fancy college education, an heir or heiress parlays their grandfather’s business into a huge multi-billion dollar company. But there are many people born into money that lose or squander it all.

3. Lucky all her life, she got all the right breaks, and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. But not everyone is lucky 100 percent of the time.

"To truly master any skill, he suggests, leaning on various pieces of research, requires about 10,000 concentrated hours. If you can get those hours in early, and be in a position to exploit them, then you are an outlier." Malcolm Gladwell, best-selling author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference and Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, has a new book coming out called Outliers: The Story of Success.

"If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut." Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

"My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that 'achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others, and that's nice, too, but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success.'" Helen Hayes (1900 - 1993)

"People can be divided into two classes: those who go ahead and do something, and those who sit still and inquire, 'Why wasn't it done the other way?'" Oliver Wendell Holmes