Nudge
Can 10,000 hours of practice make you great?
Jan 27, 2025
Join Professor Alex Edmans, a finance expert at the London Business School and author of "May Contain Lies," as he challenges the 10,000-hour rule of mastery. He reveals the psychological biases like confirmation bias that solidify misinformation, illustrated through stories like Barry Staw's study and Belle Gibson's tragic scam. Discover how narrative fallacies can distort our understanding of success and the importance of critical thinking in navigating belief systems. Edmans equips listeners with tools to combat misleading ideas.
36:35
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Quick takeaways
- The 10,000-hour rule, while popular, is flawed due to its limited research base and oversimplified view of expertise development.
- Confirmation bias and narrative fallacy distort our understanding of success, leading us to embrace misleading information over objective evidence.
Deep dives
The 10,000 Hour Rule and Its Origins
The 10,000 hour rule suggests that achieving expertise in any field requires 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, a concept popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers. Despite its widespread acceptance, the rule's foundation rests on limited research, primarily focused on violinists, without accounting for the varied factors influencing skill development. Furthermore, the original studies did not explicitly mention the 10,000-hour benchmark, raising questions about the validity of the rule when applied to other disciplines. This misinterpretation has led many to believe that hard work alone guarantees success, disregarding the roles of natural talent and individual circumstances.
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