What did you practice today?

Any musician can tell you that practice in a fundamental part of learning to play an instrument. Sure, talent is a factor but practice is just as important…perhaps even more important. I recently read a book by Malcolm Gladwell, called Outliers. In this book, Gladwell writes extensively about the “10,000 Hour Rule.” The idea is simple: people become successful at something by investing 10,000 hours (yes, literally 10,000 hours) doing whatever that something is. He asserts that being great at anything requires enormous amounts of time dedicated to practicing whatever it is you wish to be great at. Now, you may be thinking, “10,000 hours!? Who has 10,000 hours to practice anything!” It really does sound like a lot! But let’s not get wrapped up in the actual number, and instead focus on the general idea. The “10,000 Hour Rule” is simply about the value of practice. And understanding the value of practice is important for all of us, not just those of us hoping to become famous athletes or musicians. So what exactly does the “10,000 Hour Rule” mean for you and me?

1. Never underestimate the importance of practice. The “10,000-Hour Rule” doesn’t tell us that we need to be super talented or ultra wealthy to achieve something. It doesn’t tell us that only a select few can be good at something. Instead, it shows us that being good at something…anything….simply requires practice. If you want to be good at something you must put in the work. Do you want to be a better cook? You won’t get better if you order take-out every night. You must practice cooking in order to become a better cook. Do you want to be a better listener? A parent who doesn’t yell at their kids all day? A better computer programmer, public speaker, or bungee jumper? Practice, practice, practice!
2. Practicing something once won’t make you great. When I was a piano teacher, parents always asked me, “How often does my son/daughter need to practice?” Can you imagine if I had said, “Oh, only about 10,000 Hours.” Yikes! Rare was the piano student who liked to practice. And I had many students whose idea of practice meant ten minutes, once a week, right before their piano lesson. Sometimes students got by on talent for a while, but natural ability only goes so far. Inevitably the music became increasingly more difficult, and those students either practiced more or gave up. Because the reality is this: Being good at anything takes practice. And to practice something literally means to do it over and over and over again. You’ll never be great at something if you only do it once.
3. You are practicing many things every day, whether you realize it or not. It is through repetition that we learn, hence the importance of regular practice when learning a new activity. But that also means that every time we repeat a behavior or a thought, we are practicing it. The more we practice it, the better we get at it. Every time we help another person we are practicing kindness. Every time we let go of a perceived wrong done to us, we are practicing forgiveness. But that also means that every time we yell at someone, we are practicing anger. And every time we think or say something mean about another person (or ourselves), we are practicing hate. And remember, the more you practice the better you get at it. Which leads us to….
4. Be intentional about what you practice. The more you practice something the better you get at it, so find opportunities to practice things you wish to improve. If you want to be a better public speaker, seek out every opportunity you can find to practice your public speaking skills. If you want to be more outgoing, intentionally put yourself in situations where you can practice meeting new people and making new friends. Think about the skills you want to improve and then purposefully find ways to practice them. But remember, the more you practice something the better you get at it, so…
5. Don’t practice your mistakes. I had a wonderful music teacher in college who constantly told me, “When you are practicing a piece of music and you make a mistake, Stop! Fix the problem as soon as you hear it so you don’t keep practicing your mistakes.” The same idea is true in our daily lives. If you want to change something about your behavior, the first thing you should do is to stop practicing it! Don’t allow yourself to continue being passive if you aspire to become more assertive. Don’t allow yourself to keep hitting the snooze button in the morning if your goal is to finally start getting to work on time. The next time you find yourself doing something that you really want to change, stop yourself right then and fix the mistake. Because the more you practice your mistakes, the better you will get at making them.

On the surface, the “10,000-Hour Rule” is a bit discouraging. Who has 10,000 hours to devote to one activity or skill? But maybe the takeaway for us isn’t that we should all be devoting 10,000 hours to one skill so the world will consider us great. Maybe it’s simply the knowledge that by devoting some time on a regular basis we can learn new skills, change old patterns, and establish healthier habits. We may not all become highly paid baseball players or world famous violinists, but we all have the ability to become more of who we want to be. All it takes is practice.