What we call talent is the result of a complex interweaving of abilities, favorable opportunities and randomly obtained advantages. Malcolm Gladwell
The famous Canadian writer and journalist, author of several popular science bestsellers Malcolm Gladwell in one of them derived the formula: 10,000 hours = success.
Many people think that if you were born a genius, then recognition and respect will be in your life by default. Gladwell breaks this stereotype by saying that anyone can become a guru in their business if they spend 10,000 hours on it.
The 10,000-hour formula is described by Gladwell in the book "Geniuses and Outsiders. Why is everything for one and nothing for the other?" (Outliers: The Story of Success, 2008). The annotation to it says:
This is not a manual "how to become successful". This is an exciting journey into the world of the laws of life that you can use to your advantage.
The book, written in a very simple and lively language, analyzes the careers of many successful (for some ‑ brilliant) people. For example, Mozart, Bobby Fischer and Bill Gates.
It turned out that they all worked at least 10,000 hours until their names became household names.
Mozart is a genius. This is an axiom. According to contemporaries, he had phenomenal hearing and memory. He worked in all musical forms, and achieved success in each. He began writing music at the age of 6 and presented the world with more than 50 symphonies, 17 masses, 23 operas, as well as concerts for piano, violin, flute and other instruments.
However, look at what psychologist Michael Howe writes in his book "The Explanation of Genius" (Genius Explained):
In comparison with the works of mature composers, Mozart's early works are not distinguished by anything outstanding. There is a high probability that they were written by his father and later corrected. Many of Wolfgang's children's works, such as, say, the first seven concertos for piano and orchestra, are mostly compilations of works by other composers. Of the concertos entirely owned by Mozart, the earliest, considered great (No. 9. K. 271), was written by him at the age of twenty-one. By this time Mozart had been composing music for ten years.
Thus, Mozart – a genius and a child prodigy – really revealed his talent only after he had worked 10,000 hours.
Malcolm Gladwell in the book describes an interesting experiment conducted at the Berlin Academy of Music by psychologist Anders Erickson in the early 1990s.
Having studied the academic performance, the students of the Academy were divided into three groups: "stars", that is, those who are most likely to shine on the musical Olympus in the near future; promising "middle–class" (will be widely known in narrow circles); and "outsiders" - those who shine the maximum position of a school singing teacher.
Then the students were asked: when did they start studying music and how many hours a day have they been spending on it since then?
It turned out that almost everyone started playing music at the age of 5. For the first three years, everyone practiced hard – 2-3 hours a week. But then the situation changed.
Those who were considered leaders today, by the age of 9, were already engaged for 6 hours a week, by 12 – for 8, and from 14 to 20 years – did not let go of the bow for 30 hours a week. Thus, by the age of 20, they had accumulated a total of 10,000 hours of practice.
For the "average", this figure was 8,000, and for the "outsiders" – 4,000.
Erickson continued to dig in this direction, and found that there is not a single person who would achieve a high level of skill without putting much effort.
In other words, achieving a high level of mastery in complex activities is impossible without a certain amount of practice.
Gladwell, like other researchers, comes to the conclusion: by itself, talent without regular polishing is nothing.
So let's calculate how much time you need to work hard to realize your magic 10,000 hours.
10,000 hours is about 417 days, that is, a little more than 1 year.
If we take into account that the average working day (at least according to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation) is 8 hours, then 10,000 = approximately 1,250 days or 3.5 years. We remember about holidays and vacations and get about 5 years. That's the amount of time you need to work 40 hours a week to accumulate 10,000 hours of experience in a particular field.
And if we also remember about procrastination and constant distractions and honestly admit that we work 4-5 hours a day with concentration and efficiency, then we will have to grow to the level of a master for about 8 years.
As a result, there are two pieces of news – bad and good. The first is that 10,000 hours is a lot. The second one boils down to the fact that everyone can achieve great success in their business, regardless of their natural inclinations, if they work hard and hard.
And one more important thought, expounded by Malcolm Gladwell on the pages of his book. The sooner you start moving towards your goal, the sooner you will achieve it. It is better to "start" as a child. In this regard, few people can earn 10,000 hours on their own – parents need help. After all, who knows, Mozart would have become Mozart if not for his father.
