The 10,000 Hour Rule

After adoring the graceful notes played by a concert pianist or admiring the physical prowess of an Olympic athlete, many people can’t help but wonder “how do they do that?” With talent oozing out their fingertips, it’s easy to assume that this world-class individual born with a gift, some unobtainable ability that will leave you awestruck and jealous.

What many people don’t realize, however, is that everyone has the potential to rise to greatness if they’re willing to put in the time and effort to achieve worthwhile goals.

According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, “The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert — in anything.”

Follow Your Dreams
Whether you’re trying to become the world’s great concert pianist, singer, or scrapbooker, if you are completely committed to following your dreams and then put in the time and effort for regular practice, then you too can put your name alongside the world’s greatest performers.

Impossible you say?

Let’s break down the numbers here so you can visualize how long it would take you to hit the 10,000 hour mark.

• If you make it a full time profession, at 8 hours a day, it will take you roughly 5 years to complete
• If you only put in half that time, 4 hours a day, then it will take 10 years.
• A weekend gig of 10 hours a week, then it will take 20 years.

When you put it that way, somehow achieving a world class status doesn’t seem as impossible. The only drawback is the most people underestimate their abilities or prioritize their time to focus on meaningless tasks and time-consuming engagements. If only everyone recognized that they had the potential to achieve whatever they truly set their mind to. . .

Aren’t they born with it?
That’s a tricky question. Personally, I believe that everyone is gifted with individual talents and abilities that they can choose to develop or ignore. I also believe that even if a person isn’t born with those same abilities but is willing to develop a talent anyway, then he or she also can achieve world-class status. And interestingly, not even “geniuses” are an exception to the 10,000 hour rule.

Take Mozart for example.

Many considered Mozart to be a child genius, composing pieces at an early age that would leave his peers astonished and impressed. However, according to Michael Howe, author of Genius Explained, “Many of Wolfgang’s childhood compositions… are largely arrangements of works by other composers… the earliest that is now regarded as a masterwork (No. 9, K.271) was not composed until he was twenty-one.”
So even Mozart still had to abide by the 10,000 hour rule – committing countless hours to improving his natural talents before achieving his world-class status.

Still not convinced?

We could go back further in time to Demosthenes, whom Cicero proclaimed to be “the perfect orator.” Considered to be the most prominent Greek statesmen and Orator of his time, Demosthenes wasn’t born with natural powers of persuasion. In fact, he had a severe stutter, which would definitely deter most people from pursuing politics.

But he would not let his disability keep his voice from being heard.
Instead of giving up, Demosthenes practiced speaking by placing pebbles in his mouth, consistently working to improve his articulation. In order to project his voice over large crowds, Demosthenes would practice by shouting over the ocean waves. For years, Demosthenes studied the speeches of great orators to master rhetoric, and by the age of 20, Demosthenes gave his first judicial speech, effectively gaining his inheritance from his guardians.

A Small Addendum
Before you go full-steam ahead on your quest for success, take these words of wisdom to heart. My music teacher use to say, “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”

Practicing a song (or a speech or a dance) over and over again may help you hit that 10,000 hour rule, but only if that practice is aimed toward personal improvement. If you keep hitting the wrong note, and continually hit the wrong note, repetition won’t make it sound any better.