In the book the Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell he talks about the importance of getting 10,000 hours of “deliberate practice” in order to achieve mastery. Recently, due to a Princeton study where they analyzed 88 studies on deliberate practice it was found that practice wasn’t as effective in terms of predicting success. Chess and music are the highest percentage where practice can be linked directly with mastery. However, when it comes to sports, education and business it becomes much less predictable.
Some athletes are naturally incredibly gifted or have physical attributes that set them apart from others. Perhaps the truth is that there isn’t a set number of hours for every individual to log in order to achieve personal greatness. In the book Sports Gene by David Epstein the author sites particular instances in studies that indicate to be a master violin player the range of hours needed to practice are within the 11,000 to 11,053 range which is incredibly specific. However, in netball there was a player by the name of Vicki Wilson who was arguably the best player in the world and only logged 600 hours of training. It is possible in this case that some players can be “Limited Editions” in that they are the exception to the rule rather than the rule itself. It is very well possible that these athletes that fall into this category were focusing on other sports prior to finding a niche where they could really stand out or they have special attributes that set them apart. This has to do with preparation meeting opportunity at the right moment.
I think Epstein put it very well we he said “In fact, in absolutely every single study of sports expertise, there is a tremendous range of hours of practice logged by athletes who reach the same level and very rarely do elite performers log 10,000 hours of sport-specific practice prior to reaching the top competitive plane, often competing in a number of other sports and acquiring a range of other athletic skills before zeroing in on one.”
With teams sports this becomes increasingly difficult to measure due to the nature of having many players to analyze with varying natural abilities, learning styles, injuries as well as interactions with one another. The team in essence can become its own entity entirely. Athletes who are a part of a team cannot rely solely on the the development of the team to be successful they need to chart their own route to achieve personal mastery as an individual.
What we have most likely found through this dialogue is that there is a range of deliberate practice hours that happen over time. It may not be as easy as saying it is only 10,000 hours to become a master. For some people it may be less and for others it may be significantly more. Through Gladwell’s own admissions we may be in fact looking for a range from 4,000 hours to up to 40,000 as it isn’t an exact science. The important thing to note is that no one is going to roll off their couch and emerge as an olympic athlete. There are certain skills sets that need to be acquired over time.
It is the individual and their circumstance that will indicate the levels that are reached. No amount of training in the world will change someone who is naturally 5 foot 2 into a towering 7 footer. It is a matter of owning your particular skill set, perfecting it and pushing the boundaries to what is possible through getting better. The quality of the practice and the desire to push to improve are critical. There is also an element of luck involved especially in highly competitive environments. In these environments the differences between athletes can be very small and it can be subjective in terms of decisions being made about who makes the team and who doesn’t. Some players are natural and obvious choices whereas others may not be as clear.
An important point to raise during this dialogue is to highlight that enjoying journey rather than focussing on the destination is important. If the hours are being logged just to get them done then the passion, desire and enjoyment are lost. Self mastery is a unique process that isn’t always dictated in a easy to follow fashion. It is the lessons in those hours that are critical for development and growth. It is very well possible that all these hours can be logged and completely lost due to a career ending injury, another person gets selected instead or various other reasons it doesn’t work out. Enjoying the process and seeing what happens next such an important process when undertaking mastery.
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