Have You Put in 10,000 Hours?

A well meaning friend mentioned that my book success and growing national speaking engagements happened so quickly. While his comment was innocent, what he doesn’t realize are the years of hard work and preparation that have gone into these projects that have laid the ground work for what is coming to fruition right now.

Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book Outliers: “True mastery only comes after 10,000 hours of concerted effort.” I now really understand the magnitude of that statement. I’ve never been a patient person but I do understand the necessity of walking before running and developing the foundation of a project so it has a strong base upon which to thrive and withstand the test of time.

So many of my students, clients, and even contemporaries want their goals to happen overnight but it takes effort and a process to achieve any objective. My quest is to help people envision their end goal and then to develop a strategy to get there. Would that we could all wave a magic wand to make things happen instantly, but life doesn’t work that way.

Any kind of change takes time and a tremendous effort so give yourself a break if you are frustrated by not achieving your goals fast. Reward yourself for the baby steps and the incremental achievements along the way. If we focus on enjoying the journey, the end result will be all the more sweet.

If you break down 10,000 hours into 8 hour increments – you have 1250. Now consider 1250 full-time work days towards your particular goal. If you divide that by 365 days in a year, it works out to 3.5 years. It’s rare that we have 7 days a week and 8 full hours in each day to commit to our goals but it does show us that what’s important takes time. It may not take everybody 10,000 hours to achieve their goal but it certainly puts life in perspective when you accomplish a long term achievement.

So be committed, energized, and accountable about your goals and give yourself permission to take the time you need to make them happen. After all –  Rome wasn’t built in a day!