Where the Path to Mastery Begins
How to Quickly Earn Competence & Confidence Without Wasting Time
The “10,000 Hour Rule,” popularized by Malcolm Gladwell, suggests mastering a skill requires about 10,000 hours of dedicated practice. For example, a guitarist might reach mastery after years of focused daily practice, embodying the blend of commitment and quality practice needed to excel.
The 10,000-hour rule emphasizes the extensive effort and deliberate practice required for high-level expertise (although it doesn’t guarantee mastery).
Learning a language, becoming a chess master, coding, becoming a professional athlete, playing jazz guitar….
You get the picture.
If you practice with intention four hours a day, five days a week (or three hours a day every day), it takes ten years to master your craft. This is a daunting amount of time and effort for most of us, but don’t be dissuaded!
After just 20 hours of practice, you can achieve remarkable competence in most endeavors. In other words, the journey begins with your first steps. We start any meaningful journey by leaping and leaning into the process.
You can also consider the “18-minute rule” as a daily micro-commitment before even putting in 20 hours.
If you want to make progress in something meaningful, spend 18 minutes daily on it. Eighteen minutes per day, every day for three months, translates to over 20 hours of practice (27 hours, to be precise).
And 18 minutes per day translates to just over 100 hours a year.
100 hours is an inflection point. One hundred hours of disciplined practice will make you better than 95% of the general population in that endeavor.
But what if you can’t, or simply don’t, devote 18 minutes per day to something you think is important to you? Well, it probably isn’t that important to you, which is a very valuable thing to learn before you continue trying to reach the 10,000 hours necessary for mastery or even the 20 hours it takes to achieve competence.
So, here’s a thought. If you have an instinct or intuition about a skill or habit you want to explore, give it 18 minutes for a week. If you sustain that, go for a month. Still on it? See if you can keep it up for 90 days. That gives you over the 20 hours necessary for earned competence (and confidence).
Practicing something over 20 hours over 90 days also validates that you have enough interest and passion in that enterprise to justify continuing to lean in and pursue the 100 hours necessary to distinguish you from 95% of the population who also attempted to develop that skill.
Passion compels us to begin a new adventure, but purpose drives us to continue when things get difficult. And things always get difficult!
For instance, take guitar lessons for three months (with a dedicated, knowledgeable, and patient teacher) and practice at least 18 minutes every day. By the end of the three months, you’ll have put in just over 20 hours of practice and be strumming along and singing a few of your favorite songs.
If you continue to practice guitar for 100 hours, you will be better at it than 95% of people who take up guitar playing.
The journey has begun, and you have positive results demonstrating that you can do this.
The journey to mastery is daunting but begins with simple, actionable steps. Start with the “18-minute rule” to gently ease into your pursuit. Committing to this daily practice builds momentum and quickly accumulates to significant milestones—27 hours in 90 days and 100 hours within a year, marking your progression from novice to more skilled than 95% of beginners.
This approach validates your dedication and interest, making goals within reach. So, take that first step today in an endeavor that matters to you with just 18 minutes of focused practice. Embrace these milestones as your stepping stones to mastery, and watch how quickly you can transform your passion into competence and beyond.
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