Lateral Drift

Early this year, I read Malcom Gladwell’s book Outliers, and have since become a avid believer in what he referred to as the 10,000 hour rule.  To my knowledge he was only the one to popularize the notion, not coin it.  The idea stuck with me possibly because I instinctively believed in the concept before I had heard of the rule.  The rule asserts that to become an expert in anything one must devote 10,000 hours of dedication to it’s study.  Gladwell points out a couple examples such as Bill Gates who likely logged in over 10,000 hours of programming experience by the time he entered college.  Obviously, this had much to do with his success.

To better understand what 10,000 hours entails in terms of a time scale, I have listed a couple examples:

Study 20 hours a week for 10 years

Study 6 hours a day for 4.5 years

These two estimates should clearly highlight an important fact.  Mastery takes time and lots of it.  Long-term goals and plans for how to achieve those goals through daily practice appear crucial for achieving mastery in any field.  I myself have realized the importance of daily micromanagement and goal setting to ensure I stay on track to accomplish my objectives.  Realistically, most people, myself included, do not commit 3 hours of daily study towards any one subject.  The amount needed to gain mastery within 10 years.  With this in mind, we must then become realistic about the level of knowledge we expect to achieve in any one time period.

The 10,000 Hour Rule and Modern Society

Today’s modern world, which revolves around information technology, allows many of us to spend much of our day wasting time; watching television and browsing the internet (something I am seeking to limit myself).  In fact, according to a federal study in 2008 men and women on average spent 3 hours and 12 minutes a day watching TV.  I think future studies will find increasing amounts of time being consumed by internet use as well.  The point I am trying to raise by pulling these numbers is that if we reallocated more of our time away from the television which I would argue offers little for personal growth, and into something more intellectually or physically stimulating, we would free ourselves up to become quite skilled.  The hours we put in at school just are not adequate.  We must be committed to putting in our own personal work efforts to achieve mastery.

I think the lessons learned from this idea of how much time it takes to become masterful at something illustrate that although it is good to think and plan long term, one must set these plans into our daily lives.  We need to analyze our goals and decide if we can put in the time necessary to achieve the skill level we are aiming for.  We also need to start looking at the amount of hours we spend doing idle mindless things such as watching TV and realize the long-term impact of opportunities lost.  To end on an inspiring note, I believe that this rule also illustrates that you don’t have to be a genius to become good at something; you just need to put in your dues.