he only thing that many people today know about…

he only thing that many people today know about the effects of practice, is wrong in several ways. There is nothing special or magical about 10,000 hours. The number of 10,000 hours at age 20 for that best violins violinist is only an average. didn’t distinguish between the delivered practice that the musicians in our study did and any sort of activity that might be labeled practice. All of the hours that the Beatles spent playing concerts in Hamburg would have done little, if anything, to help Leonard and McCarthy become better songwriters, so we need to look elsewhere to explain the Beatles success. the final problem with the 10,000 hour rule is that although Gladwell himself didn’t say this, many people have interpreted it as a promise that almost anyone can be expert in any given field by putting in 10,000 hours of practice.

— from Goals, Action & Defining Success (Goal/Action/Success/Motivation)

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