Why You Need to Practice 10,000 Hours

In his book, “Outliers (n.局外人): The Story of Success,” sociologist Malcolm Gladwell proposes, among many things, something he refers to as the 10,000 hour rule. Essentially, it is the tipping point (n.引爆点) where, after 10,000 hours of practicing something, you are usually an expert in said activity.

It sounds like a daunting (adj.使人恐吓的，使人畏惧的) amount, but if you think about it mathematically, it’s actually very manageable. If you stay in the same field, you’ll probably accomplish it almost by accident(偶然地). Here’s what Gladwell said in a recent interview:

One of the most significant factors is what scientists call the "10,000-hour rule." When we look at any kind of cognitively (adv.认知地) complex field -- for example, playing chess, writing fiction or being a neurosurgeon -- we find that you are unlikely to master it unless you have practiced for 10,000 hours. That’s 20 hours a week for 10 years. The brain takes that long to assimilate (v.吸收) all it needs to know to achieve true mastery (精通).

参考译文：

在其著作《鹤立鸡群：成功者的故事》中，社会学家马尔科姆·格兰威尔提出了一个他称之为10000小时的规则。究其根本，10000小时作为一个临界点，指的是经过这么长时间的训练，你将成为某个领域的专家。

10000小时看起来似乎是个令人望而却步的数值，不过，如果你细加思量，这完全是可以控制和完成的。如果你在某个领域坚持下来，大多数时候在不知不觉间就能将之实现。下面是格兰威尔在最近访问中的谈话：

这其中最为引人注目的因素在于被科学家称之为“10000小时”的规则。当我们审视任何类型的复杂的认知行为时——举例来说，国际象棋的对弈，小说写作或成为一名神经外科医生——我们都能发现不经过10000小时的练习是不可能将之熟练掌握的。易言之，每周20小时并坚持10年。大脑在经过如此长的时间后，能够吸收所需要的一切因素以精通某事。