Is 10,000 hours really making someone from average to great?
There is an old famous adage “Practice makes a man perfect”. We’re hearing 10,000 hours rule since time immemorial if we want to become a master in any skill. It is always exhorted by motivational speakers, self-help writers, and successful people. Even though you aren’t prodigious, practicing anything 10,000 times will make you master it.
The ‘10,000 times rule’ was popularised by Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliers” in which he talked about the rule through which one becomes a master in any skill/field by intensive practicing again and again for 10 thousand hours.
No matter wherever you go, you will listen to people talking about this mantra as a panacea for all ailments. Want a good writer? No worries. Practice writing every day and you will become a great writer. Or want to play basketball like Michael Jordon? Then try to dunk the basketball every day.
However, this thought misleads people to believe in it blind-sightly. Not trying to demean the power of practice, but we take it in the wrong way. Instead of understanding the nuances and nitty-gritty, we tend to believe that by practicing one thing 10,000 hours, we will become perfect in it like Mozart or William Shakespeare in their respective fields.
That’s wrong! Absoulely wrong!
If this is the case, why don’t lots of professional people remain ordinary and mediocre despite practicing one skill throughout their lifetime?
Let’s understand it with a simple case.
Suppose Bill is an experienced barber near your area who has been cutting people’s hair for over 30 years. He earns significantly every day as per the normal rate a barber gets for a haircut. Despite practicing the same art for countless years, he has a limit. He couldn’t earn millions unlike top hairstylists in the world such as Jawed Habib, Hiro Haraguchi, etc. If he stands in front of one of the top hairstylists in the world, Bill is easily out beaten by him/her.
Why is this the case?
If practice is the key, then I believe he might have cut hair almost 10,000 hours in his entire lifetime. Why doesn’t he come among the world’s or even a country’s top hairstylists? Bill is just an example. You could see countless people doing the same thing over and over, remaining in the same position forever.
This is just one example. Look everywhere and you will find only practice isn’t make anyone great in a particular skill/field. It won’t matter whether one gives 10,000 or 20,000 hours, it doesn’t guarantee mastery.
Then what makes us great/master in any skill?
Innate talent may give you an extra age at a certain level, but it doesn’t mean that only those people have reached the heights of greatness and success. Many non-prodigious have become masters in their skills just by applying the right methodologies and techniques for a considerable time.
There is not an overnight way. I never underestimate the power of practice as it is absolutely a key to success. But we need more than practice to become above-than-average in any field. What we need is to find a ‘Sweet Spot’ while practicing any art.
It’s a zone between your comfort zone and frustrated zone that forces you to have struggle and discomfort along with gains and advancement.
This sweet spot helps you to grow gradually and slowly each day. It’s a guided and calibrated practice to improve your cognitive process for that skill. The pursuit of success needs to tune with the constant upgrading efforts to achieve what you aim for no matter at what cost. (Of course, it can’t be too high).
Writing each and every day won’t make someone a great writer. But if someone tends to expand the nuances and styles at greater length and depth each day to reach up the heights. Of course, it takes extremely hard work, patience, diligence, perseverance, and the most important practice. There is no magic wand to have everything you aspire to without the above things.
We know that Thomas Edison failed 10,000 times while creating a bulb, but he learned from these failures. And improvise everything in his successful attempt to give the world a great invention.
Thanks For Reading!
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References -
- The Sweet Spot by Paul Bloom
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