Ten Thousand Hours or Your Life

I've been reading Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success, and I've been thinking a lot about the "ten thousand hour rule." It occurred to me to ask: is it actually possible for what I might call a normal person to achieve ten thousand hours?

Here's a synopsis of me: I work full time and have a considerable commute (courtesy the Bay Area). I have a six-year-old son and a fiancé. I also co-own a business and work on it occasionally. I also have the standard human needs to drink water, eat food, bathe and sleep. Normal or not, I think my life represents some standard commitments that adults with family have.

Now, to the rule. For anyone who hasn't heard about it, Gladwell dissects the elements of success, going far beyond the usual rags-to-riches story often told around the successful people. One of those elements is the fact that prior to making it big, each outlier accumulated at least ten thousand hours in his/her art or craft. This seems to be some magic number for human brains to become experts in music, computer science, law, art, sports – you name it. 

But let's face it. Ten thousand hours is a LOT of time. Or is it?

A standard work year contains some 2,000 hours (8 hours a day x 50 weeks in a year). That means if one works at one's job in a focused, concentrated way for at least five years, one can accumulate ten thousand hours. But what if you want to venture out into something that's not your day job, like many of us do. You want to do art or writing or cooking or auto mechanics. How much time would it take to become an expert if you have a day job?

To answer my question, I created a spreadsheet and a chart. There are some realities to face in the path toward an expert state. One limitation is that one could be limited to the number of spare hours in a week. Another limitation is that one has a limited chronology within which to achieve an expert state. To demonstrate, here are some numbers:

• If you had 1 hour per week to spend on a craft, it would take you over 80 years to accumulate ten thousand hours.
• If you wanted to achieve expert state within 10 years, you would need to allocate at least 16 hours per week on a craft – equivalent to a part-time job.

This poses some interesting questions for life. I’m in my thirties, and having the big four-oh right around the corner creates some clarity.  Let’s say I wanted to become a pottery artist superstar, and I started now.  It would take me till I retire, to get those ten thousand hours. And it causes one to pause and think about the price of an expert state and success.

I’ve always wanted to write and speak for a living. Perhaps I need to join something like five toastmaster clubs or forsake the inclination to pay rent for a few years. The trouble for me is that as an introvert, I get so little time to myself as it is. For me, dedicating more time to speaking and writing skills could very well mean my sanity (and the safety of my loved ones). Hm. Time to ponder.