What would you accomplish with 10,000 hours?

They say that practice makes perfect. And practice takes time, a lot of time. After reading the article “The 10,000 Hour Rule”, I was intrigued about what in my life I would take 10,000 hours to try and master.

Malcom Gladwell had presented this rule in his book “Outliers”. He gave examples such as The Beatles playing 10,000 hours in Germany before emerging as a band, Tiger Woods practicing for 10,000 hours on the golf course, and the countless hours Bill Gates spent on the computer.  All these examples have one thing in common; these well-known people have put in countless hours to master the task they are famous for. They’ve worked hard, put in the time, and made progress.

In the article, they illustrated a time table of how to possibly reach 10,000 hours. 20 hours a week for 10 years, 40 hours a week for 5 years, and an insane 80 hours a week for 2 and a half years.  I feel that putting in smaller amounts of time over a longer time span is far more productive than putting in an enormous amount of hours in a shorter time span. You get more done when you work in smaller intervals. It feels more enjoyable and less like a job or a project. Giving yourself a short amount of time to perfect something, makes it feel more hectic and it doesn’t end up being fun or even your best work in the end because of how you’re rushing to get it done.

Some things I feel that I would like to take the time and put this rule into effect would be my writing. I enjoy writing; stories, poems, anything that lets my mind explore. It’s my form of art and a way to get out my feelings in a positive way. Having a time cap limits me from producing my best work and a piece of work that I can be proud of.

There is something out there for everyone that they could perfect if they put in this much time. Be it a hobby, a sport, whatever, if you put in the time, you will see results.

Read the article for yourself, and see what you can come up with.

The 10,000 Hour Rule