The 10,000 Hour Principle

Recently a Pastor we know reviewed Malcom Gladwell's new book "Outliers," a book about the story of success and how it has a lot more to do with environment that some might think. 

One of the last principles he shared really got my attention.

"The second thing that really grabbed me was The 10,000 Hour Rule. Researchers have settled on what they believe to be the magic number of hours needed for true expertise: 10,000 hours. "Ten-thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert - in anything" (p. 40).

Reinforcing the importance of family and community in this process he notes that it is all but impossible to achieve this all by yourself by the time you're a young adult. You need parents to support and encourage you. The significance of the 10,000 hour rule is that in our microwave popcorn society, we want instant success. This rule reminds us that the crucible of time and practice, and patience with the process is absolutely essential to success." 

This may be linked to a card I've had on my wall for years "Victory happens when ten thousand hours of training meet one moment of opportunity."  I love it.

As I read this I couldn't help but think "What if we applied this 10,000 hour truth to evangelism?"  This removes all effort for quick missional success and puts us into the long term, evangelistic success for life.

Going 10,000 hours with you.