The 10,000 Hour Rule Has Flaws. Here’s Why.

In his bestselling book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell introduced the world to the 10,000-hour rule.

The 10,000-hour rule states, “The key to achieving true expertise and success in any skill is simply a matter of practicing, albeit in the correct way, for at least 10,000 hours.”

When I first read the book, it felt like a huge breakthrough. I finally thought all I needed to be successful was 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.

But is this information correct? And, more importantly, does it guarantee you’ll achieve success and hit your goals?

Most people screw it up and misunderstand the rule. Let’s break it down and break down why.

How Long is 10,000 Hours?

10,000 hours is roughly 416 days.

And if you practiced a skill for 8 hours a day, every day, it would take you a year and four months to reach the goal.

Well, unless you’re a trust fund baby who doesn’t work, who has that amount of free time?

Most people work and have families to care for, so devoting eight hours daily to a skill isn’t realistic. If they’re lucky, they might be able to dedicate 2-4 hours a day to practicing their skill. And that’s a big if because life happens and gets in the way.

But let’s go with that example for the moment. Let’s say someone religiously practices for four hours daily and they never miss a session.

4 hours a day X 365 days = 1,460 hours of practice.

To cross that threshold, 10,000 hours divided by 1,460 hours of practice = 6.8 years of study. Double that result if you’re doing two hours a day.

So, I hate to burst your bubble, but becoming an expert at anything will take more time than you think and more dedication than you probably imagined.

But that isn’t the only problem with the 10,000-hour rule.

All Practice Isn’t Created Equal

There’s no question that putting 10,000 of practice into anything will make you elite at your chosen craft.

And for the record, I’m a fan of this approach. I do advocate working hard and think everyone should do so.

But it’s important to remember the context. How you practice is much more crucial than just logging the hours and checking the box.

If you wanted to get better at shooting a bow and arrow, would it be the same thing to experiment on your own for 3 hours as it would be to practice with an expert for 3 hours who gives you tips on form and technique and getting better?

The answer is self-evident.

And this is where people screw up the 10,000 Hour Rule: They focus on the quantity of time practicing, not the quality of the practice – and not all practice is equally helpful.

If you log hours learning a skill alone, you will waste time. I guarantee it.

All the hours of trial-and-error, testing, and guessing won’t compare to learning from a mentor, coach, teacher, or master. Having the help of proper instruction from a practitioner can save you time and potentially years of mistakes where you’re practicing incorrectly.

Also, you have to practice with complete focus. That means practicing not only the physical mechanics of your craft but the mental and emotional mechanics as well.

If you’re not mentally and emotionally invested in progress, you’re just going through the motions. And that means you’ll lose to someone else putting the same hours in as you and invested in their craft.

10,000 Doesn’t Guarantee Success

Here’s an important distinction: Hitting 10,000 hours is what Gladwell refers to–not achieving your ultimate goal.

And this is another area where most people get it wrong. The 10,000-hour rule isn’t a guarantee of victory. It merely increases the likelihood of achieving the success you desire.

If your goal is to be a huge rockstar, playing lead guitar in a band, putting in 10,000 hours will put you in the top tiers of guitar players, but it doesn’t mean you’ll be in a successful band.

You could spend your entire life studying acting. You could read books, do plays, attend classes, and graduate from an acting conservatory. It doesn’t mean you’ll have a career like Tom Cruise or Sir Anthony Hopkins.

Putting in 10,000 hours (or more) will make you one of the best in the world at that particular skill. But it doesn’t mean you’ll be the “best,” and it certainly doesn’t mean you’ll achieve your goal.

We see it all the time in boxing and the UFC. How many fighters pour their blood, sweat, and tears out in the gym and never win the title? I’ve spoken to many fighters who have logged over 20,000 in their craft but never achieved their dream of becoming a champion.

And you need to prepare for that mentally because that could happen to you. You could put more than 10,000 hours into your craft and still not achieve your ultimate goal, not achieve your dream.

Can You Achieve Success Without 10,000 Hours?

Of course. But don’t bank on that path for success.

“Hope” and “luck” are not effective strategies for victory.

The famous actor Orlando Bloom was attending The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and had an audition two days after he graduated. He didn’t get the part he auditioned for.

Instead, the director offered him another role in the film. The director was Peter Jackson, the role was “Legolas,” and the film was Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

He hadn’t even been out of acting school for a week, and his dream came true.

My point: He wasn’t even close to hitting 10,000 hours, and success found him.

Luck plays a factor, but it isn’t reliable. You can’t pursue your goals on a whim and a wish. And you should never focus or rely on circumstances outside of your control.

Instead, you want to put all your effort into what is in your control. This is where the power of the 10,000 hours comes into play.

Dedicating the time to progress drastically increases the odds of success and fulfilling your goals. We’ve all heard the Seneca quote:

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

I’ve found in my life there’s a lot of truth to that. But you have to back it up by putting the work in for opportunity to smile upon you.

The BMM Takeaway

As I've said thousands of times before, I’m a big fan of hard work.

And for the most part, the 10,000-hour rule has a lot of positive aspects to it. The problems come into play when people don’t practice properly, are stubborn, think they can do it on their own without help, and think it’s a guaranteed way to success.

I’ll leave you with this and how you should view the 10,000-hour rule: Don’t focus on the results.

People get so fixated on the “goal” that it robs them of the joy and the real value of achieving it. The real value is in the process. And staying sane means focusing on what’s in your control, not what isn’t.

If you’re fixated on an exterior goal, something that you can’t control “how” or “when” it’ll come to fruition (if it even does), then you’ll constantly be miserable, and you’ll give up.

What you want to do is get fixated on the process. Focus on the actions that will bring about the goal. That is in your control.

Get obsessed with the process rather than the result.