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10,000 Hours to Mastery…For Martial Artists

August 17, 2009 | Author: Matthew | Filed under: 'taught me' series, Martial Arts, karate, mindset

Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called “Outliers: The story of Success“, and in it he suggests that people require roughly 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery in anything.

I wonder if that applies to martial arts as well?

Check out Gladwell’s short, 4 minute explanation on his theory:

Basically Gladwell suggests that in society there are certain outliers, or those people/places/things that exist on the fringes of the norm. One notable outlier concept is that of the ‘true expert’, or a person that has achieved supernormal success in a particular field. To become an outlier Gladwell’s study shows that you need 10,000 hours of practice.

The Math

10,000 hours sounds like a lot, and it is. Let’s put it into perspective with an example.

If you train on average 8 hours a week for 52 weeks, you’ll achieve 416 hours a year.

If you keep up that pace consistently you’ll reach the 10,000 hour mark after about 25 years.

That’s a lot of years. Gladwell calculates that most dedicated musicians and artists practice their craft for about 3 hours a day. At that pace it would take about 10 years to hit the mark of mastery.

To calculate your own pace, figure out how many hours a week you train. Think ‘on average’ to balance out your heavy weeks with the weeks you go on vacation, etc (and remember you’re only lying to yourself ; ). Multiply that number by 52. Now divide 10,000 by your number and you’ll get your rough yearly estimate.

Implications for Martial Artists

For the sake of study, let’s accept the 10,000 hour rule and analyze how it effects our training. We all have to weigh our growth and expectations in contrast to our week-to-week training. 2-3 nights a week at 2 hours at a pop is going to lead us toward the 25 year long haul as opposed to the (seemingly) short 10 year stint.

But, I also think we should feel encouraged. There are very few activities that inspire as much dedication and long-term commitment as martial arts. If you play in a slow pitch softball league no one really cares about how often you practice. If you want to pwn noobs in World of Warcraft you are on your own (with perhaps a little harassment from your guild). In martial arts you have an entire support network to encourage and help you.

Another more internal factor is illustrated by Gladwell during one of his speeches. He states that in a recent study scientists tried to figure out why Asian students generally do better in mathematics then western students. They checked genetics and biology but nothing significant could be found. What was truly telling was the result of one particular experiment.

In the experiment, students from both backgrounds were given very difficult mathematic equations, very much beyond what they were accustomed to. The western students gave up and moved on after 1-2 minutes. The Asian students had to be stopped after the 15 minute mark and told to move on.

Patience, persistence, perseverance – these are the qualities the Asian students had instilled in them, and are also the most important factors in determining a person’s success in the martial arts.

I’m sure you can see where I’m going here – traditional martial art training builds the human qualities that are  paramount to success.

Wait A Minute! I See Holes In Your Plot!

Am I suggesting that if a person trapses into the dojo for 10,000 hours they are guaranteed success in both martial arts and life??

No. In fact, I think that would be far far from the truth.

Consider this – people generally work 8 hours a day at their job 5 days a week. That would make them masters within 5 years.How many people do you know that are masters at their job? How many people do you know that are even competent at their job after 5 years? Conversely, how many total idiots do you know who don’t belong anywhere near their job?

There’s a lot more to it than hours.

Smart Practice is as Paramount as Lots of Practice

If a musician plays “Smoke on the Water” all day every day, he’s never going to become Jimmy Page. If a martial artist spars everyday, he’ll never become Funakoshi Gichin. The reason why is because there is such a thing as smart practice.

What we become is a direct result of what we aspire to be. The 10,000 hours in question isn’t just about rote repetition. It also encompasses the research we do and the constant effort to improve our learning.

Let me put it another way. In real life or via youtube – have you ever watched a martial artist who has claimed 40+ years of experience, but turns out to be terribly unimpressive and unnatural? The reason why is because most of that person’s 40 years has probably been spent in TALKING about how great he/she is rather than practicing. They also very likely trained themselves into a box during their first 5 years and just sold that same package over and over again without any substantial branching out, diving inward, and improving.

This concept of smart training also differentiates what I consider expertise over mastery. I’ve met many expert martial artists, but very few masters. I personally think the 10,000 hours can deliver expertise, but it takes something more to achieve mastery.

One Bottom Line – Effort over Genius

Some martial artists are naturals who can make things look frustratingly easy. However, according to Gladwell, more often than not outliers combine modest innate talent with luck and extreme amounts of work.

If you aren’t Bruce Lee by nature, don’t panic. You can be an expert too if you really want it.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009 and is filed under 'taught me' series, Martial Arts, karate, mindset. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

xygoxen
  • alanm
    A little over 35 years ago, I learned one form derived from the 18 postures of Lo Han. I'm not sure my practice since then adds up to 10,000 hours. It hasn't been an hour a day -- three some days, some days none, or at most a few minutes. But I will say, time makes a difference. On a cool morning, opening the practice outside is like stepping through a door to old places, finding places to stand, and air to breathe, back across that time. Over time, you move away from what you are supposed to do, or what it looks like, or how good you are or aren't, and just go through it.
  • I'd like to complement everyone's discipline for not making fun of Gladwell's crazy hair.
  • FoxyCitrus
    If you train the right way, and you are always pushing yourself to expand your experience and knowledge base, those 25 years can be very dynamic and rewarding. It still blows my mind, though.

    I enjoy Malcolm Gladwell's work, and I've had this one on my list since it came out a few months ago. It looks like a good read that can be applicable to anything!
  • Good post, Matt. Many martial artists tend to think that just turning up to practice is enough for them to become good martial artists, almost like they will take on the skills and knowledge by some process of osmosis, when in fact, as you pointed out, that just isn't enough. You still have to work at it. You have to mentally and physically put your all into the training and then continue that outside the dojo in some form if you are to get good at all. Martial arts is a lifestyle, or at least it should be. At some point you have to make the commitment to stick with it for the long haul and make whatever sacrifices are necessary in order to advance. It really comes down to how seriously you want to take it and how much you are willing to give up to get were you want to go.
  • Great take on the relationship between Outliers and martial arts. You might enjoy mine as well...

    http://www.mokurendojo.com/2008/12/10000-hours-...
  • cool! I'll definitely check that out.
  • It's not JUST the 10,000 hours. You have to have a good teacher and talent as well.

    The only way I can see those of us who need close to normal lives accumulate those 10,000 hours is to make the principles of our martial art habitual.

    Philosophy practiced is the goal of learning - Thoreau
  • At my current rate, i think i'll need 82 years before I get any good...
  • Our instructor tells us a story about one of the other instructors he trained with who used to say that he just couldn't get the hang of back side kicks in spite of training for a long time. His master told him to practise another 200,000 times then if he was still having trouble they would have another think about it,

    I don't mind - you get out of it what you put in, am definitely in for the long haul :)
  • thanks nicola! Yea I guess you really can't say enough about diligent practice. Of course if it doesn't happen for him perhaps he can find another technique better suited to his body.
  • I accidentally posted the same comment twice... It seems I can edit comments but not delete them :(
  • no problem jack, looks like disqus took care of the double!
  • No that was me :)
  • 38 years... Damn...

    I can't say I train intelligently, but at least at my level I can say I don't really know how...

    Perseverance and consistency is the key to almost everything, in my opinion.
  • Hey Matt,

    I think the law of diminishing returns would come into play here. For instance when I used to spar with TKD guys - they would hate my form but could not argue the form when they got kicked. :)

    I'm all for whatever effort it takes to learn a move effectively but I do not see the point in perfection... so long as it works. I guess an argument for perfection in kata could be made but I don't think it would apply the same to sparring or especially self-defense (where the only real litmus test might be, "did it work?").

    Good post!
  • yea john I personally think the perfection of kata is even more important for mental and spirit development than physical. like you said, techniques that work don't have to come from a kata necessarily!
  • Tapetum
    I read Outliers some time ago and found it fascinating. The trick with the 10,000 hours is, as you note, in what you do during those 10,000 hours. You have to spend that 10,000 hours actively working toward improving your craft and skills. Simply doing isn't sufficient, even if your training is well crafted. I can have a teacher taking me through an excellent music training program, crafted to take me through all the requisite skills, I can sit at the piano all that 10,000 hours and play through the program, but if I don't engage my brain and work at achieving improvement instead of just moving my fingers through the motions, I'm not going to become what I could. That's how people can work a job for years and not be masters - they get to the level of good enough (or not even), and stop working at improving.

    Of course, the problem for some of us is having just a few too many things we'd like to work at. If I'm working at organ/piano, knitting, and martial arts (as I am), it'll take me some time to fit in the requisite concentrated time on all of them.
  • Excellent point about having different pursuits that split up our time. Yea you could become a master at one thing, but how much are you sacrificing to get there? Is it worth it to you? These are important questions.
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