-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Miller -- 48 Days
The 10,000-Hour Rule
In This Issue: Issue 482-- October 13, 2009
• 1. The 10,000-Hour Rule
• 4. 48 Days Highlights
Have you invested your 10,000 hours in your area of excellence? If not, just ramp up the process to see your success come into view.
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“Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to shore.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly to venture on wider seas where storms show Your mastery; where losing sight of land we shall find stars. We ask You to push back the horizons of our hopes; we ask You to [lead us into] a future of strength, courage, hope and love.”
” -- Sir Francis Drake, 16th – century English sailor
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1. The 10,000-Hour Rule
The second chapter in the new book Outliers is titled The 10,000-Hour Rule. Author Malcolm Gladwell shares his research that shows few people get to the top of their game without putting in at least 10,000 hours of preparation.
”The closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play.”
Whether it’s Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, the Beatles, Yo Yo Ma, Mozart, or Warren Buffet, it appears no one gets to the top without putting in their 10,000 hours. If you put in 40 hours a week, that’s 5 years. If you only find 20 hours a week to work on your area of excellence it will take 10 years. If you’re just squeaking out 5 hours a week – it’s going to take 40 years. Talent will only take you so far; it’s the hours of work that will separate you from the pack.
The problem is that we have become an “instant” society. We have been spoiled with email, cell phones and microwaves – and become impatient with the nanosecond required to load a new web page. College graduates expect the $100,000 job and the $500,000 house instantly. Talented musicians and athletes expect fame and fortune long before investing 10,000 hours in practice. Writers give up after writing their great novel in a weekend and after a month of searching for a publisher. Christians are often confident their idea came from God, thus assuming success will be easy and instantaneous.
So where have you put in your 10,000 hours? If you are in a job that you hate, have you been investing hours in an area of excellence that will give you a new opportunity? Or do you just waste the hours away from work, hoping for something more fulfilling to appear? If you are a writer, a musician, a landscape designer, a web designer or a husband, have you put in your 10,000 hours of concentrated preparation to be great in that area?
I trust this is an encouraging bit of information. You don’t have to regret having average talent, or not having the highest IQ, or being born into the wrong family. Just find your area of excellence and put in 10,000 hours of preparation. You’ll bypass those with more “advantages” and find success that others only dream of.
48 Days Online Radio -- You've got to be kidding
Welcome to 48 Days radio where each week I look through the submitted questions and then blast through as many as possible right here to give you the unique tools for your own success.
I dislike where I work so much that I find it difficult to get to work on time and I only live 2 miles from my office. It is affecting me personally and affecting my marriage. I have decided to quit but want to know how this will affect my ability to find a new job and how to fill out the ‘reason for leaving’ part of an application. What do you say in an interview?
Over the last year I've come up with the idea of creating a non-profit sustainable Christian community for people at all stages of life. My question is, how do you go about getting funding to launch non-profit ventures? I can't take this to potential investors the way that I could with a big money-making idea.
My husband is a real estate manager in a metropolitan area. We are mountain folk- going on 10 yrs. here and desperately want to escape. He teaches social media classes on his own, manages agents, & conducts training at the company he works for. How can he structure a fulltime career from teaching classes or speaking? Our goal is to structure his business so we can move wherever we want to raise our children.
Recently I’ve felt compelled to write a book. I’ve always wanted to but never really decided to sit down and do it until now. My question is how should I go about trying to get it published? When I do internet searches I find a bunch of publishing houses asking me to pay them to publish the book. This just doesn’t seem right to me. Any suggestions on ways to go about it or places to go for information?
I have been reviewing forms of internet business like affiliate marketing or selling my own e-products. Many of the "systems" being sold seem to be an internet version of "buy my system to make money stuffing envelopes by selling systems stuffing envelopes". What are your thoughts on internet business and the "systems" that are being hocked?
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If you have a question, just email me at askdan@48Days.com and you can ask about starting your own business, getting a better job, or finding your purpose in life.
48 Days
P.O. Box 681381
Franklin, TN 37068-1381
(615) 373-7771
www.48days.com
