10000 hours rule from Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers was scientifically proven to be false people say and then they point to a study that actually bolsters all of the chapters of Outliers that surround the 10000 hours rule. I’ve seen links to four articles just this week that did just that: tried to prove Gladwell wrong by using one of Gladwell’s arguments.
For the record, he employs the following:
- The 10000 hours of practice must be focused, not random. It’s possible to develop bad habits.
- They only position you better for when opportunity comes a knocking. A man with 10000 hours of practice who was born right in the Vietnam generation and was drafted as a second sergeant and subsequently died per the average 7 second life span at the average DZ doesn’t get to be a master. The 10000 hours are irrelevant if no opportunities exist.
And so on. Every study I’ve read this week simply confirms what the rest of Outliers claimed.
Context is king.
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