The 10,000 Hour Rule

Two books I read recently referred to the same intriguing theory: to become an expert in any complex skill requires 10,000 hours of practice, which equates to about ten years at 20 hours per week. Moreover, such dedicated practice may be even more important than talent.

I’ve often heard that hard work is generally important and, in every profession, some work harder than others. In the NBA, stars Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan were obviously talented, but also known for their intense work ethic. They practiced countless hours in their youth and worked harder than their peers in college and at the professional level. Similarly, comedian Jay Leno is known as one of the hardest working entertainers in show business. Early in his career, he used to do stand-up over 300 nights a year. Now that he works on the Tonight Show, he still does 160 dates around the country each year to hone his act. I had thought that stories like these showed that these particular stars happened to approach their career by working hard. I had never heard that a specific amount of focused practice may be decisive in determining the best of the best in a number of fields.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell explains that in the last twenty years, researchers have shown that really hard work could actually be more important to success than talent. The original study was in the early 90s by psychologist Anders Ericsson at Berlin’s Academy of Music. The instructors identified three groups of violinists by skill level – the elite, who were good enough to become world class soloists, the middle “good” group, and the lowest group, who would likely not perform professionally. All violinists were asked how many hours they had practiced in their lives. All started around age 5, but by age 20 the elites averaged over 30 hours per week and had amassed over 10,000 hours of practice. The “good” students had logged 8,000 hours and the lowest group had “only” practiced 4,000 hours. The researchers concluded that all students had adequate talent or they would not have been admitted to the school, but what distinguished them by age 20 was simply how hard they had worked.

Gladwell noted that researchers have studied other professions with similar results. They generally agree that 10,000 hours is the magic number for attaining mastery in almost anything. But what would happen if someone with unremarkable talent dedicated 10,000 hours to a chosen skill? Would he or she become world class? According to recent media reports, we may have an answer in a few years. A man named Dan McLaughlin in Portland, Oregon had heard about the 10,000 hour theory and decided to dedicate his next few years to testing it. Two years ago he was a professional photographer who was bored with his job. He wanted a change and thought becoming a PGA golfer might be a good goal. Up until then, he was not passionate about golf, but he thought he could change his life and inspire others if he showed he could change careers with enough hard work and dedication. So with negligible golf experience and unknown talent, he started learning and practicing golf full time. He planned to play golf 36 hours per week for six years and then become a PGA player. He is about a third of the way through his 10,000 hours and his handicap is down to 6. You can track his progress at http://thedanplan.com/

If he endures to 10,000 hours, it will be fascinating to see the results. If he becomes good enough to join the PGA, it will be a compelling validation that hard work, without any obvious advantage in talent, is powerful enough to succeed.

Before I leave this subject, I thought I’d do one last thing: estimate how much time I’ve spent in a sampling of some activities in my own life, and how successful I’ve been in each.

Activity        Practice (hrs)     Result                                                                               
Golf               500                    Helps explain why I’m awful
Baseball      2000                 Slightly above average until the pitching got too fast
Driving         9000                  Above average driver and seldom hit things
Sleep          140000              Really, really excellent sleeper. A natural.