Ten Thousand Hours

When looking at what makes someone successful, writer Malcolm Gladwell states in his book Outliers that the key to mastering any skill is a dedication to practicing it. Specifically, Gladwell believes that it takes about 10,000 hours to reach mastery.

Let’s put that into perspective. I’m 22 years old and have been alive 8,329 days. I would need to have have walked an average of 72 minutes every day (since birth!) to have “mastered” the skill of walking. I’m not certain but I may still be on my way.

But in all seriousness, this means that doing something for an hour a day for over two decades will not be enough for you to reach the point of mastery. You need to let your passion consume you. You need to wake up in the morning and begin painting then not stand up until much later only to realize you’ve missed breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Recently Macklemore has inspired me more than any other artist. His song Ten Thousand Hours is inspired by Malcolm Gladwell and this theory.