I’m in the process of reading Malcolm Gladwell’s new book Outliers (you should also get The Tipping Point and Blink by Gladwell). It is a fascinating look at why certain people are successful and others are not. Often times we think people just got lucky or had a series of big breaks or were simply in the right place at the right time. And while all those may be individual factors, they are not what ultimately causes someone to be successful.
A key idea he presents early in the book is that in order to achieve a certain level of mastery of a skill that would qualify you as a world-class expert, it requires at least 10,000 hours of practice. He uses various case studies to back up that figure and while there are certainly exceptions to the rule (if you can call the “10,000 hour” idea a rule), it’s interesting to think about.
10,000 hours of practice at anything is an insane amount of time. Let’s put it into perspective with some examples…
If you practiced 2 hours a day, 5 days a week, it would take you about 19 years to reach 10,000 hours.
If you practiced 5 hours a day, 7 days a week, it would take you about 5 1/2 years to reach 10,000 hours.
If you practiced 12 hours a day, 365 days per year, it would still take you about 27 months to reach 10,000 hours.
If you…ok, you get the idea.
10,000 hours doesn’t happen overnight. It takes literally years and years of practice.
In the book, Gladwell writes this about practice: “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s what you do that makes you good.”
While that seems very commonsense, it stood out to me. So often we try to short cut our way to success and the fact is that it doesn’t work like that.
You don’t become the best in the world by waiting for your big breakthrough. You don’t become world-class by being lucky. You don’t arrive at success by chance or accident.
You become the best in the world by working your butt off…when no one is watching…when you don’t feel like it…when there are other things you would rather be doing…when others aren’t practicing.
That’s how you become the best in the world.
Related posts:
3 Comments
Hey Grant, great blog on “How To Be The Best In The World”. I’ll put this book on my to read list (along with the many others I’ve yet to get to). I do believe though that this is just a tip of the ice berg of how to become successful in whatever we inspire to achieve. On the issue of luck, I am convinced that luck doesn’t exist. Our outcome and success is due in great part to the actions we have taken to get there. A lottery winner wins because he has taken the neccessary steps to win (after spending several dollars to get there). Being in the right place, at the right time only happens when you have taken some sort of action to BE in the right place at the right time. Here’s to you my brother of inspiration. Keep on inspiring and motivating. See ya at NPC!!
Good thoughts Jay…thanks for contributing!
good post – thought provoking.