The 10,000-Hour Rule

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

"The idea that excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice surfaces again and again in studies of expertise. In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours" (Gladwell, pg 39-40).

According to the 10,000-hour rule, no one becomes an expert without practice. Ten thousand hours, or approximately 3 hours of practice everyday for 10 years, is required to gain an expertise in any field.

Even though the "Matthew Effect" theory talks about that those who are born earlier get better opportunities of being success, the 10,000-hour rule gives an impression that anyone can succeed as long as they put the 10,000 hours of efforts in it.

I found this to be true from my own experience. Few years ago, I and my friend were at the same level of playing guitar. As time went on, he practiced every morning and I didn't. After few years, I could see the gap of level between me and him. He became able to play this pro technique called "sweep picking" that I wanted to play but had given up because it was too difficult.

This demonstrates that effort leads to the positive outcome. Perhaps by practicing something for more than 10,000 hours, we can rival the people who were given better opportunities.