People are jumping ship from the 10,000-hour rule, including prominent economist Peter Orszag over at Bloomberg News and former professional cyclist Richard Moore for The Guardian. Gladwell backlash is nothing new, but it seems to have a particularly public dimension this time around. 'here’s no where that says it’s a magical number where that’s when they become elite or anything like that,' Epstein says in an Outside magazine interview. The chapter is titled 'A Tale of Two High Jumpers (Or: 10,000 Hours Plus or Minus 10,000 Hours).' It was a direct challenge to Gladwell's theory - Epstein even admits Gladwell's popularity pushed him to write the book in the first place. In particular, one of Epstein's chapters details two successful high jumpers, one of whom had practiced for far more than the prescribed 10,000 hours, and another who had done far less.

Epstein also notes that the world's best in high jump, darts, and track don't need nearly 10,000 hours of practice. Practice is important, of course, but there's a reason that Jamaicans dominate sprinting, Kenyans excel at long distance track, and tall people are much more likely to make it to the NBA, according to the book. It was a powerful idea, based on several studies, and put some evidence behind the 'practice makes perfect' argument for any skill.īut the rule has faced a number of critics and doubters, none more so than in Sports Illustrated's David Epstein's new book The Sports Gene, which thoroughly disproves the theory. In Malcolm Gladwell's 2008 bestseller Outliers, the amply-haired 'thought leader' popularized the '10,000-hours rule,' which posits that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at any competition, from violin to basketball to Halo. Īcademic fight! Malcolm Gladwell's popular '10,000-hours rule' was debunked in a Sports Illustrated writer's new book, so Gladwell defended his piece by accusing the author of creating a 'straw man.' This article is from the archive of our partner.

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