One thread I’ve noticed for all those I admire the most, the professionals with careers that make a difference and bring success is their abilities to achieve excellence was sewn together with hours and hours of practice.
A little research and I found an online qualifier for how long to learn to play the piano. (I couldn’t locate a test for most other things!) The test consisted of questions like, how well do you want to play level 1 – 10, how fast do you want to learn, what kind or quality of teacher are you willing to invest in, how much time per day and how many days a week are you willing to commit to practice? Learning to play at level 10 takes 4 – 8 years and many hours rehearsing each day, every week.
What about your craft? How many hours of rehearsal does it take to become outstanding in your field? In the New York Times best-selling book “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell shares that mastery of most fields generally requires 10,000 hours of practice. For example, practice four hours per day five days a week for ten years to reach level ten.
This time commitment is called the 10,000 Hour Rule.
