The 10,000 hour rule. Myths and truths
No doubt, you’ve heard of Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule. Is it true that if we dedicate 10,000 hours of practice to a task, whatever it may be, we become really exceptional at carrying it out?
To reach this number of hours of practice, it takes about 3 hours a day for 10 years.
It is true that by investing a lot of time in a certain activity we become clearly better at doing it.
Even so, exclusively analyzing the quantitative dimension of practice limits us and does not allow us to explain all cases of sporting (un)success.
The means, the surrounding environment, the genetic predisposition for the development of motor skills, the quality and type of follow-up, the motivation for the practice and the moment in life in which it happens, are factors, without a doubt, as or more important than than practice time.
Learning therefore depends on both individual factors and factors inherent to the task and involvement. Learning is too complex, dependent on many and varied factors, which is why we consider the idea of attributing personal, professional success or sporting excellence exclusively to practice time to be too reductive.
Each of us is a unique being, as such, we have different learning curves and responses to the same stimulus.
What factors influence our learning to surf?
Pre-practice factors
Characteristics of carrying out the Task – sea conditions, material used;
Individual characteristics of the athlete – physical fitness, genetic potential;
Instruction and Demonstration – quality/quantity of information and demonstration;
Warming up – neuromuscular activation to enhance physical predisposition to action;
Motivation – intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for the practice;
Focus of Attention and Anticipation – ability to understand the objective(s);
Emotion – the athlete’s emotional state will condition the practice.
Concomitant factors
Amount of practice – direct relationship with the number of repetitions of the task;
Appearance of muscle fatigue – reduces responsiveness.
Post-practice factors
Feedback – feedback information on the quality of the action;
Metacognition – reflection on the teaching-learning process;
Emotional involvement – influences the collection, selection and retention of information.
To get to the level of high performance as a top world surfer, it is not enough to surf 10,000 hours:
- How many waves did we catch in those 10,000 hours? And with what quality?
- How long were we standing, sliding, and what techniques did we perform?
- Did we use boards suitable for the practice conditions, our technique and our physical characteristics?
- Did we have specialized technical follow-up?
There are many variables to achieve sporting success, but there is no doubt that persistence and resilience are crucial. Not everyone is willing to dedicate so much time of their lives, with all the sacrifices that this entails.
If it’s your dream, invest as much time as possible in it. Tomorrow you will reap what you sow today.
Professional Surf Coaching understands what is at stake and works daily to help you make your dreams come true! Talk to us!