researchers sought to understand
what leads to masterful performance.
Is it natural talent as conventional
wisdom suggests? Practice? Or
something else entirely?
To put these questions to the test,
Ericsson and team studied the practice
habits of a group of violin students
throughout childhood, adolescence,
and adulthood. All of the students
had begun playing the violin around
the age of five with similar amounts
of practice times dedicated to their
instrument. But by the age of eight,
the amount of time the violinists
spent practicing began to diverge
significantly. By the time the students
turned twenty years old, the most elite
violinists had averaged more than
ten thousand hours of practice each,
while the less able performers had
averaged just four thousand hours of
total practice. The study concluded
that “many characteristics once
believed to reflect innate talent are
actually the result of intense practice”
over a long period of time. Citing
Ericsson’s findings, Gladwell went on
to coin The Ten-Thousand-Hour Rule,
saying that “Ten thousand hours is
the magic number of greatness.”
There’s a lot to love about Gladwell’s
rule, not least of which is its
elegant simplicity. There’s just one
problem: According to Ericsson—the
scientist behind the study Gladwell
based his rule on—Gladwell grossly
misinterpreted the original study and
oversimplified the far more complex
science of mastery. While Ericsson
affirms that it is practice and not
“natural talent” that is the best
predictor of exceptional performance,
he has sharply criticized Gladwell for
failing to make the critical distinction
that it’s not just any sort of practice
that leads to extraordinary work.
It is only what Ericsson refers to
as “purposeful practice” over long
periods of time that leads to mastery.
So, what distinguishes “purposeful
practice” from mere practice? Four
things:
• Specific Goals: Masters don’t just
sit down and practice with no aim
in sight. They set concrete, specific,
measurable goals each step along
the path to mastery.
• Intense Focus: Once they sit down
to practice their vocation, masters
are intensely focused on the task
at hand, eliminating notifications
and anything else that might vie
for their attention.
• Rapid Feedback: Masters don’t
practice in a vacuum. They seek out
rapid feedback on how they have
done in pursuit of their specific
goals, course-correcting where
necessary.
• F r e q u e n t D i s c o m f o r t : “ G o o d
enough” is never good enough
for the world’s top performers.
Masters differentiate themselves
by c o n t i n u a l l y p u t t i n g “m o re
weight on the bar” of their chosen
vocation.
Solutions • 25