Anders Ericsson Reveals the Truth about 10,000 Hours of Practice
Anders Ericsson, who sadly passed away at the age of 72 in 2020, was the expert on how to become an expert. He was a renowned cognitive psychologist, and the author of the seminal book on how to become elite, Peak. If you are familiar with the research of Ericsson, then you know a little something about the 10,000 hours of practice rule of thumb.
However, this “10,000 hours” rule of thumb is just that, a rule of thumb. 10,000 hours is not a scientific rule and it’s not even a de facto standard. Unquestionably, the idea that you need 10,000 hours to achieve excellence is simply a reminder that it’s a long difficult road to become the best version of yourself. Moreover, it’s an even longer road to become the best of the best.
This is the truth that Ericsson shares in his book. To become the best of the best you aren’t competing to get to 10,000 hours of practice. Instead, Ericsson states:
The reason that you must put in ten thousand or more hours of practice to become one of the world’s best violinists or chess players or golfers is that the people you are being compared to or competing with have themselves put in ten thousand or more hours of practice. There is no point at which performance maxes out and additional practice does not lead to further improvement. So, yes, if you wish to become one of the best in the world in one of these highly competitive fields, you will need to put in thousands and thousands of hours of hard, focused work just to have a chance of equaling all of those others who have chosen to put in the same sort of work.
So, what does this mean to someone who wants to be an elite athlete or elite in anything for that matter? Well, here is the hard truth.
If the best people are investing 20,000 hours, then it will take at least 20,000 hours to be the best. If the best people are only putting in 1,000 hours, then it may only take 1,000 hours. Simply stated, talented people who practice more are always going to be better than everyone else.
But this is the kicker, “more” is infinite and “practice” is not. So yes, you can always practice more. However, the “what” and “how” of practice must be limited to only those things that make you better. Therefore, to be an elite athlete or elite in anything, your #1 competitor is time.
- The quality of what you use your time on.
- How focused you are during that time.
- How long you can remain focused without decreasing the quality of the quantity of time without quitting.
Only by mastering these three aspects of time can you give yourself the best chance of winning your competition against time. Unquestionably, until you win this competition no other competition matters.