Why does it take so long to reach a professional skill level? 10,000 hours is a lot.
In: Biology
The 10,000 hours pop-culture maxim comes from Malcolm Gladwell’s *Outliers*, in which the author suggests that exceptionally skilled people tend to be made so by a large volume of practice time at their skill; he bases this claim on looking at a variety of different people considered exceptional in fields like, including students of varying levels of expertise.
The thrust of the work — that practice produces excellence — is fine, but leaves out one part that is quite important: purpose. K. Anders Ericsson, a psychologist who studies expertise, visits the idea of practice in his scholarly work as well as giving it a more accessible treatment in lay books such as *Peak*. The thesis is that practice develops skill, but for optimal development there must be a *deliberate*, challenging aspect to practice — it should involve practicing the parts of a skill at which one is lagging, and must be done attentively and with the intention to improve.
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