**How good it takes to become an expert at something, according to Malcolm Gladwell.** > [!tip] 10,000 is not a magic number > There's really nothing special about the specific number 10,000. The point is that you cannot expect to become an "expert" on any sort of short-term horizon This is the most famous claim from [[Outliers]] Malcolm Gladwell uses Bill Gates and the Beatles to support his claim that “about 10,000 hours” are required to develop a skill such that you’ll truly become an outlier in that field. The Beatles played 7+ straight hour shows 200+ nights a year for multiple years. This forced them to grow and develop beyond just playing their ‘best songs’. Bill Gates spent his childhood taking advantage of an opportunity to code on a computer for free. Over the course of their early careers they all logged 10,000 hours. 10,000 hours is about 3 hours a day every day for 10 years. Or 5 years of 40 hours/week. You could expect 10,000 hours to increase or decrease by a large amount through [[Naturals vs Strivers|natural talent]] and the effective application of [[Deliberate Practice]]. **** # More ## Source - [[Outliers]] ## Related - [[Success Begets Success]]