The striking thing about Ericsson’s study is that he and his colleagues couldn’t find any ‘naturals, ’ musicians who floated effortlessly to the top while practicing a fraction of the time their peers did. Nor could they find any ‘grinds, ’ people who worked harder than everyone else, yet just didn’t have what it takes to break the top ranks. Their research suggests that once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That’s it. And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder. The idea that excellence at a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice surfaces again and again in studies of excellence. In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours. Malcolm Gladwell
About This Quote

10,000 hours. That is the magic number for true expertise in a wide range of fields, from athletics to music to intellectual pursuits. In other words, if you want to be really good at something, you have to practise it over and over again. The more you practise at being good at something, the better you get at it.

You have to practice a lot in order to get better. But it doesn't matter how much you practise. There is a critical level of practice that separates the average performer from the truly excellent ones.

Source: Outliers: The Story Of Success

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