I'm currently reading Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Outliers. Wanted to share a finding I've heard before. Basically, it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at anything! It doesn't matter whether it's athletics or academics. According to Gladwell, there are no "naturals." You have to put in the time. Generally speaking, the only difference between an elite person in any field and everybody else is usually a few thousand hours of practice time.
I find this study so empowering. Anybody can become an expert in just about anything. Obviously, you need a baseline of talent if you're talking about music or sports. But you can accumulate knowledge and become an expert.
This resonates with me on lots of levels. I'm not claiming expertise in any particular discipline, and I certainly see myself as a work in progress, but to become a great writer you have to be a great reader. Since I graduated from college I've read at least 2500 books. I think this is a conservative estimate, but if you allow at least 4 hours reading time per book you end up with about 10,000 hours.
So here's the question: what do you want to become an expert in? Gladwell says, "Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness."
I find this study so empowering. Anybody can become an expert in just about anything. Obviously, you need a baseline of talent if you're talking about music or sports. But you can accumulate knowledge and become an expert.
This resonates with me on lots of levels. I'm not claiming expertise in any particular discipline, and I certainly see myself as a work in progress, but to become a great writer you have to be a great reader. Since I graduated from college I've read at least 2500 books. I think this is a conservative estimate, but if you allow at least 4 hours reading time per book you end up with about 10,000 hours.
So here's the question: what do you want to become an expert in? Gladwell says, "Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness."
7 Comments:
Wow...10,000 hours is a lot of preaching!
Great post Mark. Too many of us are surviving on our talent and gifts alone rather than "working out". We need to be reminded of this!
Another book that will seriously mess with our preconceived notions of "talent" and "success" is Talent Is Overrated.
I found it mostly encouraging, in that it places much of the benefits of "talent" under our own power... but only with significant commitment and hard work.
Outliers is a great intro to the concept, but Talent is an even better book (IMO). If someone plans to read both, Outlier then Talent is a good order (otherwise skip straight to Talent).
If it's helpful to anyone, here are my rough notes & outlines:
• Talent Is Overrated notes
• Outliers notes
Hey Mark,
Got Outliers for Christmas and finished it a couple days later. I really liked it. Like the 10,000 hours concept and also his take on success being connected to where you're from, and when you were born.
After thinking through this stuff, i'm really wandering what it is that i want to be an expert in.
i've been haunted by this idea for a long time. i'm engaged to a graphic designer, so for her, the decision is clear, but do i really want to become an "expert" in youth ministry? or in "church leadership" or something like that....
i'm having a hard time wrestling with all this as a 23 years old college grad....
Mark thank you so much, it is nice to know that I truly am great at cleaning the toilets, and I think I will tell my boss that I am too!
As usual, I'm late to the party, and it may be too late to get your feedback... But, I enjoyed the book immensely as well and found the 10,000 hours concept to be interesting.
I also found his take on what I'd call "right place, right time" very interesting. It was almost like he was describing the providence of God without calling it that (I elaborate on on this point here: http://eagerlywatch.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/outliers-and-the-providence-of-god/).
I'm curious. Did you come away with the same take?
Post a Comment
<< Home