Bob Lefsetz » 10,000 Hours
I’m sick and fucking tired of people telling me they’ve put in their 10,000 hours, so they should be rich and famous.
It’s 10,000 hours of HARD PRACTICE!
Let me put it to you this way… If you spend 10,000 hours on the bunny slope, you’re ne…
Here’s a note from music industry veteran Bob Lefsetz. He’s a great read.
Bob is ranting here about Malcolm Gladwell’s hypothesis in the book “Outliers” that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at a certain task/subject/etc.. Its a great book.
I think Gladwell’s 10,000 hour assessment is dead on, but it has also given a wrongfully hopeful way for people to tangibly measure “readiness”.
We’re told every day to have a to-do list and to check it off as the items get cleared out of the way and I think for a lot of aspiring talent, this is all that Gladwell’s message does for them. They read redux versions of Outliers presented by the media or by writers like Lefsetz and they’re just looking to get to the end of the to-do list to finally see the payoff…be it a career, paycheck or 15 minutes on MTV.
They missed the stuff in between the details, though. They’re not passionate, they’re not original and they’re not ready for their moment.
It’s still about luck a lot of the time and we believe that “luck” is when preparation meets opportunity and nothing more. The Adjustment Bureau doesn’t exist. It’s up to us to get ourselves to the right place, at the right time. If it all works out, we’re better for it. If not, get over it and try again.
I wish Gladwell’s method wasn’t taken as fact because I know a lot of people who’ve done 10,000 hours worth of preparation and have gone nowhere because they’re not truly passionate, original and prepared.
Maybe they’re just unlucky.
