A website called Sabotage Times: We can’t Concentrate so Why Should You? posted an article with a very long title “No, 10,000 Hours of Practice Won’t Make You An Expert: 10 Facts That Really Aren’t Facts.“ The title implies that one of the ten facts will contradict Malcolm Gladwell’s thesis in Outliers: The Story of Success. One does; the first fact debunks Gladwell’s claim that
the key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practising a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours
According to David Bradely,
10,000-hours of practice will make you an expert
The Deceived Wisdom is that a 10,000-hour rule applies to become an expert or virtuoso. The idea was made popular by Malcolm Gladwell apparently based on the research of psychologist Anders Ericsson of Florida State University. Ericsson never mentioned 10,000 hours and says there is more to perfection than simply putting in the hours. Most people do a relatively limited amount of practice to ‘perfect’ their art, whether wielding a cricket bat, playing chess, singing or programming computers. It can make you perfectly competent – but not necessarily excellent.
Bradely debunks nine more “facts”; enjoy reading them all.
h/t John S. Wilkins @john_s_wilkins