Talent, Luck or Hard Work – Which matters most when it comes to success? (Part 1 of 2)
This article is a collaboration between Karen Van Cleve founder of Live Well Coaching, Nina East, founder of the Association of Personal Growth Professionals and PersonalGrowthPrincess.com.
So, is it talent, luck, or hard work that contributes the most to success?
According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers: The Story of Success, talent and luck play a part in creating opportunities, but they are not the critical factors. What matters most is experience. Time in the saddle, as it were.
People like to think that inborn talent and luck have more to do with success than anything else – because that way there is a ready, reasonable example for why they haven’t achieved success they want for themselves. After all, if someone is born into a wealthy family, don’t you have more opportunities? Sure – at least what people generally think of as positive opportunities. And if you have a natural talent at something – say, brilliance at math – doesn’t that give you an advantage over someone else who isn’t very good with numbers. Sure it does.
But, what Gladwell documents so clearly, is that while those factors can play a small role, the real distinguishing characteristic is how much time and effort someone puts into something.
He gives many examples – from the Beatles to Bill Gates to Mozart. In each situation he studies, the real difference between those who “make it” and those who don’t, is how many hours they spend working on, learning about, and practicing whatever it is. THAT is what makes them world-class experts. Not their background. Not their natural affinity with numbers or words, etc.
Gladwell makes the case that in order to achieve world-class expert status (mastery) – in any field – you have to put in at least 10,000 hours of work. Yes, he said ten-thousand hours. Think about Michael Jordan and how many long hours he put in, long after team practice was over. Bill Gates had more than 10,000 hours of computer programming experience before he even graduated from college – at a time when most people weren’t even sure what a computer was. The Beatles had over 10,000 hours of performance time – not just practice time – when they seemed to hit the American scene “out of nowhere”.
Even when people have the same degree of talent, or even more, and the same opportunities granted to them, the ones who become masterful are the ones who put in the time.
What does this mean for personal growth professionals?
First, it has to do with us, specifically. Think about your own area of expertise, the service you are providing to your clients and customers. Have you logged more than 10,000 hours at it? There’s a reason things seem to be so easy for some people. They’ve worked at it. They’ve learned from their mistakes. They’ve sought the best mentors and used their feedback. They have deliberately sought out challenging situations in order to gain mastery at what they do.
Second, it has to do with our clients, how we work with them, and the expectations we help them create.
Are we helping them get the skills and then design systems so they can be assured of getting the necessary experience to become masters? Or are we telling them we can teach them to secrets to X in 7 simple steps and they’ll never have to worry about X again?
Unfortunately I think it’s too much of the latter and not enough of the former. While it might be hard to sell a program if you emphasize that it takes 10,000 hours to complete it, but wouldn’t it be helpful - and perhaps more ethical – if we build into the program the option for ongoing support in order to get the practice they’ll need?
What are you doing for your own professional and personal development? Are you continuing to put in the time?
And how are you supporting your clients and customers in making sustainable change in their lives? Are you selling them the quick fix pill, or are you telling them the truth about what it takes?
Remember, just because it’s easy for you doesn’t mean it will be easy for them. In fact, it won’t be as easy for them until they have the amount of experience you have.
