Mobile Commerce, SEO & Social Media Blog

10,000 Hours to Success

Malcolm Gladwell, author of current bestseller Outliers, surmises that culture, birth year, and other factors beyond our control determine how successful we are. However, cultural determinants aside, he brings up the interesting point of the “10,000 Hours” Rule.


“The 10,000 hour rule isn’t hard and fast.”




For more details:

• What exactly does this mean for any aspiring success story?
• Is it possible for an everyday, non-Outlier person to achieve success if they rack up 10,000 hours?
• What role does novelty play?
• How does this relate to entrepreneurship?

Aspire to success

As some other bloggers have pointed out, the 10,000 Hour rule isn’t hard-and-fast. It’s only in a mature market that 10,000 hours allows you to rise above the competition, and even then, it’s only because they’ve quit long before the magic hour. In some particularly tenacious industries (music comes to mind, as does art), it may take far longer than 10,000 hours to gain the benefits. The real secret to success comes with working harder and working longer. It’s the relative, not the absolute, amount that matters.

Ever heard of PRPS? A former designer at NIKE, named Donwan Harrell knew what we mean by 10,000 hours to success when he started a luxury denim brand with jean material organically grown from Africa. Harrell admits that he spent years trying to get his brand off the ground, and now it’s finally paying off. His company motto is “bruised, never broken.” Harrell claims that he took the hits and kept on fighting to become what he is today.

What about me?

Let’s say that I’m really, truly interested in bug extermination. I want to be the name in bug extermination. According to this theory, there’s really only one way to get there, and that’s by putting in many, many hours of hard, focused work. And I’d rise to the top – but not so fast!

This is where Gladwell’s other concepts come in, and where demographics, as Gladwell demonstrated, start to play a bigger role.

What if, for example, my father was an exterminator? I’d have an advantage, having grown up in a house where spider-killing is taught from birth. My first job might be easier to get, and I could easily rise through the ranks with less work than somebody starting from scratch. I would have established myself in the market long before anybody else.

However, let’s suppose that I didn’t grow up with an exterminator father, and instead, I had a great idea for an organic bug spray that just happens to hit the market at the right time to coincide with the green trend, and I put in substantially less time than the aspiring success.


“Sometimes it just takes one great idea.”

Novelty as a factor

Obviously, when it comes to product development and promotion, this 10,000 Hour rule looks a little weak.

These play a bigger factor in determining success:

• Strength of the product or service.
• How new and unique it is.

Some people do become successful through hitting the market at just the right time – like developing organic bug spray during the going green campaign.


“Some success comes from hitting the market at the right time.”

Entrepreneurial ventures

However, when you look at the bigger picture outside of just a product, and consider business acumen altogether, the 10,000 Hour rule comes back into play, and the success lies again in the one who works harder and longer.

To be a successful businessperson, keep in mind:

• Nothing short of long hours and focused attention will bring success.
• There is no “magic success.”
• “Luck” only occurs with hard work.

Jasmine Davis Jasmine has spent the last 10,000 hours playing Minesweeper. Shouldn’t there be some kind of award for that? Want content written for your Brand that shows up #1 on Search Engines and brings you new customers? Contact us.