The 10,000 hour rule (2008) says that to become truly great at something you need not just talent and opportunity but 10,000 hours of serious practice. The rule comes from Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers” (2008).
A study of 20-year-old violin students at Berlin’s Academy of Music, a top music school, found that what separated those who had a shot at becoming world-class violinists from those who would probably become music teachers was how many hours they had practised: the possible greats had practised about 10,000 hours, the probable music teachers only 4,000. Further, no one who was able to get into the Academy and practised 10,000 hours was “just good” – nor could anyone get away with just 4,000 hours and be a possible great.
Gladwell says that is true not just for playing the violin but for most things that require talent. Most of what people suppose is talent is in fact just practice. Behind every great man, or woman, is 10,000 hours of practice.
Examples:
Mozart wrote his first great concerto at age 21. That sounds amazing – until you find out that he had been writing music for ten years. That works out to about 10,000 hours.
The Beatles: When they arrived in America in 1964 they were not just slightly better than other rock bands, they were way better – they were great. But it was more than just talent: from 1960 to 1962 they had played together before live audiences more than most bands do in a lifetime: about 1200 times in Hamburg, Germany, five to eight hours at a time. They went from sounding so-so to sounding like no one else.
Bill Gates: When he dropped out of Harvard at age 20 to found Microsoft he had already spent 10,000 hours programming computers. Not only does that make him like those top violin students, but in 1975 there were maybe only 50 other young programmers like him in the whole world. When he was growing up computers were rare and expensive – only companies and universities had them. But he lived within walking distance of the University of Washington. His friend Paul Allen had discovered some computers in the physics and medical departments that no one was using in the middle of the night. So they would slip out after bedtime and hack the night away.
Talent and practice matter but so does opportunity. Gladwell says that many of the top people of the computer industry were born between 1952 and 1958. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, for example, were both born in 1955. That is no accident. Personal computers came along in 1975. Microsoft was founded that year, Apple a year later. If you were born before 1952 you probably already had a family to support and had committed to mainframe computers. If you were born after 1958 you were still at high school and missed getting in on the ground floor.
Likewise, of the 75 richest men and women in history 20% were born between 1831 and 1840. They were just the right age to become the leaders of the American industrial revolution: people like John D. Rockefeller (1839), Andrew Carnegie (1835) and J.P. Morgan (1837).
See also:
- Steve Jobs
- Jonathan Ive
- Stephen King on becoming a good writer
- media diet – see what Gladwell reads
Does age matter? For example, is there a difference between putting in 10,000 hours of practice into a new skill (eg. learning a new instrumental, language, sport, etc.) between the age of 5 and 15 versus doing it when you are 25 to 35?
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I seem to recall that Gladwell said that many of the greats were “late bloomers” so age doesn’t seem to be the deciding factor. Obviously in things like sprinting, gymnastics, or learning a language, age does plays a bigger part, but in many areas it seems to be just a matter of putting in the time.
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I remember when I had to realise that to get good on my instrument, I had to radicly increase my practice time , from one hour a day to 3 to 6 hours a day…that would be 6 to 7 years or so before clocking that 10,000….but, the real teacher, the bandstand was even more demanding…thank god I practiced those 6 hours , because in Chicago and New York, I had big chunks of time playing 6 days a week 6 sets a night…that really hones some chops…and, luckily its with good players, because lousy music and lousy players will only mess you up…
It is great if you start young, young people absorb like sponges, but, I also beleive if someone really puts in the hours you can get a lot of progress , at any age…its just hard to devote 6 hours to practice when you get older
There is a down side…messed up back from carrying and setting up equipment…tinnitus…if you dont be careful, practicing too much or playing too much can give you tendinitus or carpal tunnel
syndrome…you really have to listen to your body…
Im close to hitting my physical wall…its inevitable, Ive seen the signs, but, I just will go until I cant anymore
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A boxer needs to repeat each move, hit and jab etc. around 25 000 times before it becomes “automatic”, imbedded into his muscle memory. That does not include running and other excersise.
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Samba, one of the hardest dances I ever tried to learn, took me 10 years to just get the basic step right
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@bulanik: yep, pro dancers work hard, very very very hard.
I remember the great Pele once said in one documentary: “Practice your kicks so that you can put the ball 10 out of 10 times between the post and a stick about 40 cm from it. That way you always score.” Easy for him to say, We tried it for few years as kids, but none of us became a pro soccer player.
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I actualy dont think Gladwell is portaying it the way it really is in real life. In North Indian classical tabla playing , it takes 20 years to reach some kind of mastery. Zakir Hussein must have started out very young with his father, tabla master Allah Rakah, so he was a maser by 23 or 24.
To do the music I want to play, it takes 10,000 hours just to start out , to really go on a bandstand and play it. Because, there are so many factors like the ability of the people you play with, the music you play, the whole interaction and give and take. The best players make it easy when you are playinghigh eneregy think quick improvising, becuase they set up things and always let you know where they are at…which takes great ability and generosity …and that swing ,knowledge and generosity takes lots of experiance to get.
The art of improvisation takes a lot of bandstand hours with other people , you have to learn lots of tricks, and, then, you are suposed to seek out the best…and size yourself up against their abilities. In a place like New York, there are 1000 guys who play your intsrument well ,so, that makes you want to bring out something differant in you…this whole process contributes to an individual being great at what he does . I am so happy to work with dancers in an improvisational style, which is an incredible feeling and interplay…most dance is chereographed from beggining to end…
There are traditions in improvisational music and dance like jazz, samba, tap, lindy hop, break dance, mambo, where the dancers or the players will have contests to see who can play or dance the deepest…these are incredible fontes of the abilities of players and dancers to grow and find ways to express themselves in more and more powerful fasion
A musician can practice nursurey rhytmes for 10,000 hours, but that is all he will be good at…some people only play one style of music their whole lives
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Michael Jackson is perfect example of this post. He practiced and practed. He was a total perfectionist. I guess with talent. Him and his brothers rehearsed until they were perfected to go to perform on stage. The opportunity to become superstars.
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The Jackson’s sure did rehearse a lot, their father made sure they had a huge amount of rehersals.Michael started so young, by the time he hit his solo career, he was an established star already with bigtime touring and record sales
There are a lot of people who get the shot young, get all that experiance and by the time they hit 20, its all over…
Im in it for the long haul.I still practice pretty much once a day, and feel funny if I dont.I push myself and practice the fast tempos that many regular jobs wont do, so I have to keep it up for a job that does or Ill be sucking wind. You have to be obcessed, the desire has to be so great and the urge not to look bad on stage so strong that a person has to practice all the time.
Some people do have natural talent and natural stage charisma…but they still have to practice to keep it honed…
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.. a good example is , 15 of september, Im playing in Rio de Janeiro , with some of the very top musicians there, which is a great honor if you think about it, playing with the best, in a city with the musical history of Rio de Janeiro , and, one of the people will be a top saxaphone player I havent played with so Im really exited about that…so, getting my chops ready for that is a priority in the next days…it never ends, you never can rest on your past, you always have to keep the discapline going
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@B.R. Good Luck.
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Thanks, Mary.I truly apreciete your well wishes
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great article in the New York times about tap dancers going to Smalls and having improvisational jams . This is what Im talking about that the tap dancer or jazz musicain has to take out their work to improvise with other dancers and musicians.
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[…] marks, but the truth is I really do believe in that 10,000 hour rule. Not familiar, check it out here. Do you want to be a painter? Go paint 100 things and see if you’re any good. Want to be a […]
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