Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea that to master something you’ll need 10000 hours of practice. But now there comes critiques with for instance the interesting book by David Epstein The Sports Gene. Epstein’s key point is that the ten-thousand-hour idea must be understood as an average.

Gladwell has written a response now, do check it out!

A quote:

“It does not invalidate the ten-thousand-hour principle, however, to point out that in instances where there are not a long list of situations and scenarios and possibilities to master—like jumping really high, running as fast as you can in a straight line, or directing a sharp object at a large, round piece of cork—expertise can be attained a whole lot more quickly. What Simon and Chase wrote forty years ago remains true today. In cognitively demanding fields, there are no naturals.”