Ten Thousand Hours

When writing his latest book The Outliers, Malcom Gladwell developed something he likes to call the "ten thousand hour" principle.  The whole book discusses ridiculously successful individuals i.e. Bill Gates, Bill Joy, The Beatles etc.  He delves into what attributing factors have influenced their success aside from natural talent and sheer interest.  It is an intriguing book and I LOVED every second of it--please read it.  Your perspective on talents/success/hard work/heritage etc will completely change!  As he studied these people he found that by the time they had achieved their most renowned work, they had "practiced" whatever their craft was for at least 10,000 hours.  Bill Gates/Bill Joy had been programming for at least 10,000 hours by the time they developed software that became worldwide successes.  The Beatles best albums came after over 10,000 hours of playing live together and so on. 

As I read this book, I began feeling slightly mediocre, realizing that I had become a jack of all trades, master of none.  A little piano here, some ballroom dance there, some baking and cake decorating on one side, a little writing on another but nothing that truly defined me.  An in-tune soul at book club a few nights later pointed out (as my same sentiment was shared among most of us "house wives") that if we added up the hours invested into our families, we accumulated WELL OVER 10,000 hours in a much faster time than all those other uber successful individuals in Gladwell's book.  We women are investing time into what is most important and with that said, I suddenly felt more at peace with having many small talents and one major success--my family.  Hopefully when this life is all said and done, I'll have wiped enough tears, hugged plenty of little bodies, told enough scripture stories and clocked enough hours that my most "successful" work of art will be my children.  Women, when you are tired, lacking patience, feeling overlooked and outdated, just remember that the most important work you are doing will add up, minute by minute, hour by hour and the real people--the most important people--appreciate and understand the value of your "10,000 hours"!