What it takes to be world-class

I’ve just finished reading two fascinating new books, ‘Outliers’ by Malcolm Gladwell and ‘Talent is Over-rated’ by Geoff Colvin. Both books quote research by Dr. Daniel Levitin into the amount of practice it takes to achieve world-class expert status in any field - sport, business, music etc. As someone fascinated by peak performance and what it takes to success at the highest level, I learned a lot from these books. Let me share with you some of my learning and my thoughts on the subject.

To quote the research of Dr. Levitin:

"... ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert -- in anything. In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again. Ten thousand hours is the equivalent to roughly three hours per day, or twenty hours per week, of practice over ten years. Of course, this doesn't address why some people don't seem to get anywhere when they practice, and why some people get more out of their practice sessions than others. But no one has yet found a case in which true world-class expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to know to achieve true mastery. "

To undertake 10,000 hours of practice not only requires dedication, but also motivation. You have to want to do it? That motivation has to be internal, because most of the time when we practice, no one is looking over our shoulder.

On average it will take 10 years to accumulate 10,000 hours of practice. If you have been in your job for 10 years, you will already have put in far more than 10,000 hours. If you work 35 hours a week (many of you work more) with a generous 6 weeks off for holidays, you will have worked over 1600 hours in a year. Of course clocking up the hours does not make you world-class at anything. It is the quality of your work or your practice that counts.

From the research, the work or practice required to become world-class at anything meets the following criteria:

• It is designed specifically to improve performance – identifying and improving weaknesses and make existing strengths even stronger.
• Activities are repeated a lot and fine tuned every time.
• Feedback on results is continuously available. Remember to manage anything you have to be able to measure it.
• It requires focus and dedication; you are not just going through the motions.
• Deliberate practice is not much fun as you are focussing on factors that you are weak at.

When you are working on improving your skills in any area, be it your golf swing, your writing ability, your communication or presentation skills, does your ‘practice’ meet the above criteria?

10,000 hours seems an eternity, particularly in an age where immediate gratification is king. But like any big task, you approach it by chunking it down into smaller, bite size pieces.

Like any great journey you start by taking the first step. With 10,000 hours you start by applying yourself for the first hour. Even by asking yourself, ‘what do I want to achieve by the end of this hour?’ you are developing focus and a measurement criteria, rather than just going through the motions.

Can you accelerate your learning?

While breaking down the 10,000 hours can certainly make it seem less daunting, wouldn’t it be great if the learning required to be world-class could be accelerated. I think there are two ways of achieving this.

First, identify who has already achieved what you would like to achieve and ask yourself, or better still them directly (if you can) ‘what can I learn from their experience?’

Secondly, create opportunities. In his book ‘Awaken the Giant within’, Anthony Robbins, the motivational coach and speaker recounts his experience of booking himself out as a speaker 3 times a day to anyone who would listen. In the extract below he speaks about how he accelerated his expertise as speaker.

“While others in my organization had 48 speaking engagements a year, I would have a similar number within two weeks. Within a month, I'd have two years of experience. And within a year, I'd have a decade's worth of growth. My associates talked about how "lucky" I was to have been born with such an "innate" talent. I tried to tell them what I'm telling you now: mastery takes as long as you want it to take.”

Almost any worthy goal is achievable with perseverance and focus. But as we know working or practicing hard is not enough. You have to work smart. Working smart means knowing what you want to achieve and designing a programme that will get you there in a systematic way and where you are getting continuous feedback as you progress.

But ultimately you have to want to put the work in. If you view putting in the hours as punishment then you probably won’t get very far. If putting in the hours is a privilege then the world is your oyster.

“If people knew how hard I worked, they wouldn’t marvel at my genius.” Michelangelo

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