I have come across a fascinating discussion on mastery of one’s skill, and though it was very applicable to both actors and all business professionals. My father encouraged me to read book called The Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. It’s a fascinating book and a certain chapter in particular got me very excited.
Is there such a thing as innate talent? The book explains the obvious answer is yes. Achievement is talent plus preparation. But, the closer psychologists look back at careers of the gifted, the smaller the role of innate talent seems to apply and the bigger role preparation seems to play. In the Outliers, it has been discovered how much time actually correlates to being a success in one’s field…ten thousand hours. “The emerging picture from such studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world class expert- in anything”. This is true for any profession- actor, salesman, attorney, criminal, basket ball player, writer, etc.
So, sit down with a calculator and ask yourself- how many hours have you logged? And how far are you from 10,000 hours? Better make a plan, those hours aren’t going to log themselves!
