You’ve probably heard of “The Ten Thousand Hour Rule.” The idea stems from Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘Outliers,’ stating that “ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.” There’s all kinds of views of whether this is accurate or not, but I think we all get the point that it takes time to master a skill.
Our family has been watching some of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo while staying with the in-laws / grandparents on a visit to the motherland these past few days. One of the TeamNL members that our whole nation prides in is Epke Zonderland. Do yourself a favor and watch the London 2012 Olympics videos. To everyone’s surprise it was not the Asians or Russians, but a tall Dutch Frisian who stole the show.
Fast forward to 2020. After his last Olympics he was reflecting back and talking about how his whole life he had been a gymnast. All these days and hours of preparation for this one moment to shine. He had literally worked for decades for how much time in the limelight?… Watch the video again. Less than 1 minute!
I was reminded of the iceberg principle because of the countless hours it takes before something even as simple as these 5 paragraphs goes online. I can only hope you’re enjoying these short leadership principles and inspiration.
How are you spending your 10,000 hours? What does the lower 80% of your iceberg look like? Drop a comment about your favourite ways to prep for the limelight.