Madeline
Malcolm Gladwell made the 10,000 hours famous by stating that The Beatles and Bill Gates and many other masters of their practice had 10,000. He may have made it famous but he did not create it. That credit goes to Anders Ericsson. But Ericsson has claimed that Gladwell got it all wrong, and here are a few of the reasons why.
10,000 Is Arbitrary
The myth of the 10,000 hours first starts with how arbitrary it is. Does it take 10,000 hours to become a great writer? Does it take 10,000 hours to write good fiction? Does it take 10,000 hours to write great characters? Does it take 10,000 hours to write a short story? Does it take 10,000 to understand the English language? Some of these endeavors are more difficult than others. It might take 1,000 hours to master one kind of skill and it may take 100,000 hours to master a more difficult skill. The 10,000 hours was a nice round, yet very arbitrary number.
It Must Be Deliberate Practice
It is one thing to shoot hoops in the driveway and it is a completely different things to run drills with other high skilled players and a coach. If the 10,000 hours is spent doing haphazard practice, it will not be as effective in making a person a master at a skill. In order to enhance in a skill, the practice being done must be deliberate.
Natural Ability Is a Factor
Just because the time and effort is put into a skill, does not mean the person will be the best at that skill. People who are born tall and have great hand eye coordination are more likely to be great at basketball then someone who was not born with these skills. Someone with a learning disability may have more difficulty with academic type skills. The point is that, just because you put the time and effort in, does not guarantee you will be the best in a skill.
