Today’s post is based on a blog post by Dan Miller, author of 48 Days to the Work You Love. On October 12th, he wrote about a chapter in the new book Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell, called the 10,000 hours rule. Are you intrigued? You should be! Find the original blog post here.
Basically, the jist of the 10,000 hour rule is that the author’s research shows that it’s rare for a person to get to the top of their game in their chosen field without putting in at least 10,000 hours of preparation.
Raw talent is apparently not as important as the time you devote to your passion…to that thing you do better than everyone else. No matter who you are and where you came from, no one gets to the top without the 10,000 hours. And, supposing you want to get to the top of your field, that means you’ve got to WORK! In a 40 hour work week, you can finish those 10,000 hours in 5 years. If you’re doing a part time job at 20 hours a week, that’s 10 years. If you’re working 60 hours a week, that means you’ll finish in 2 1/2 years, but it also means you don’t have a work-life balance, and I can’t agree with that!
Where are you putting your hours in? Are you putting effort in the areas of your life that matter the most, or are you leaving work, coming home and turning into a couch potato? I truly hope you’re not ignoring your family in exchange for mindless channel surfing. And hey, if the area of your life that matters most, that you want to be excellent at is your relationship with your partner, I’m totally cool with that! So long as you are putting in the hours and are excellent at something you love, your favorite southern couple is behind you!
Tags: Career, Marriage, Relationships, Spouse
