Malcolm Gladwell, a popular journalist/author, brought to light one of the most interesting statistics of this century in regards to attaining “perfection” (this term is loosely used for no one can ever be totally perfect). In his book Outliers, Gladwell asserted that it takes, at minimum, 10,000 hours of practice to master a given subject. Whether that subject is computer programming, playing the violin or becoming a world-class athlete, all fields were reliant on one key aspect: hard work.
Many people believe that natural talent is the true cornerstone of achieving unparalleled success, however, that simply isn’t true. This may be somewhat of a bleak realization if you were assuming you haven’t become the next Tom Brady solely because you just weren’t born with “it”, but this statistic should be looked at with hope and positivity. Anyone can be great as long as you are extremely dedicated to your respective goal and continue to practice, practice, practice!
10,000 hours might seem daunting (and that’s because it totally is); nonetheless, it is important to remember the idea behind the number and not just the number itself. Sure, 10,000 hours would roughly equate to practicing a sport for 40 hours each week over the course of 5 years, but think. If you spent 20 hours each week, or even 10 hours each week, practicing and giving your all, how much better would you become? The answer is: infinitely!
All practices may not be perfect, nor will every game be your best. If you are focused and working hard, you will improve without a doubt! Science and genetics are critical to an athlete’s development and important, I’ll leave you with this quote- “hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard.”
