Gladwell’s Law of 10,000 Hours of Experience

What factors influence in predicting whether a person will be successful in life?

What factors influence whether a person will be successful?

This is a complex question that many of us have asked ourselves at some point. There are multiple causes that can play in our favor or against us when it comes to determining whether, throughout our lives, we will be able to achieve certain economic and employment goals.

From socioeconomic background to luck, including a factor that we often do not take into account: l****a experienceWe can also take into account a factor that we often do not take into account: experience, especially that which we have acquired during our childhood.

Socio-economic background is an important factor

You don't need to be very astute to realize that one of the important factors is the one of the important factors is socio-economic background.If you were born into a wealthy family, you will have a better chance of receiving a better education, you will be able to dedicate more time to study, you will have the economic cushion and family contacts, etcetera.

However, if you come from a poor family, you have a little (or quite a lot) more difficult in life: you will probably receive a not-so-good formal education, you may have to start working early to contribute to the family's economy (which may affect the hours you spend studying), and you may not be able to afford higher education, even if you lack intellectual capacity, merit and motivation.

The social elevator has been out of order for decades, and there are no stairs.

What I have just explained is not a cliché: several studies carried out in Spain and published by the newspaper El País have shown that the social elevator has been out of order since the 1960s. The social elevator is the mechanism by means of which, in a society, the humble can climb the ladder and see their personal economic reality substantially improved thanks to their merits and efforts*.

This meritocratic principle seems to be called into question when we analyze the data, which indicate that, if you are born poor, you are much more likely to remain poor as an adult.. If you were born rich, you have to do very badly not to remain in a privileged position.

Malcolm Gladwell's law of 10,000 hours

Fortunately, there are other factors that come into play in deciding whether we can succeed and fulfill our potential. and develop our potential. In this case, I wanted to focus on a factor that is perhaps not taken into account very much: the experiences we acquire during our childhood.

The following reflections are part of a conference given by the Catalan economist Xavier Sala MartínThese studies reveal the decisive importance of this vital stage when it comes to forging certain abilities and skills that will allow us to have a better chance of success in adulthood.

Children born in the first half of the year have an advantage

Let's start by thinking about a curious fact. A spectacularly strong trend for no apparent reason is that, in most elite sports teams, 75% of their players were born in the first half of the year, 75% of their players were born in the first half of the year.. And, in fact, there is a negligible number of top-level athletes who were born in the month of December. You can see for yourself by looking at elite professional teams in any sport: you will notice that this trend is a curious and disturbing constant.

If 50% of the world's people were born in the first half of the year, and the other 50% in the second half, then you will see that this trend is a curious and disturbing constant, How can we explain the fact that the majority of elite athletes are born in the first months of the year?

Malcolm Gladwell, the journalist who studied this curious phenomenon.

An American journalist named Malcolm Gladwell was one of the first to become aware of this question of athletes and the months of birth. Unable to explain this phenomenon, he investigated various sociological studies.

He finally came to a conclusion, which had nothing to do with paranormal and astrological issues. The explanation was very simple: in order to become professional athletes, children must have gone through the basic categories, where they train and play matches. What happens is that these basic categories are divided by years. When children start at 7 or 8 years of age, they play with those of the same year. Those born in 1993 with those born in 1993, those born in 1994 with those born in 1994, and so on.

This means that children born in January 1993 and those born in December 1993 play on the same team. At those ages, a difference of one year has a big impact: those born in January are taller, stronger, more agile, smarter? And the coaches, who in addition to coaching also want to win games, end up giving more playing time and responsibility to the January kids. They are the ones who play, not only more minutes, but the ones who take the penalties, the ones who play the decisive minutes? and therefore gain more experience.

The enormous importance of the experience that we acquire (or not) during childhood.

This dynamic is accentuated and consolidated as they progress through the youth ranks: the following year, the children in January are still a year older and have more experience. With each passing year, the schism of experience between the children at the beginning of the year and the children at the end of the year becomes greater.

Once the children have grown up, for example when they are 20 years old, the physical differences between them have disappeared. What remains is a big difference in the experience of the players: the January kids have had much more chances to train and play more minutes, so they are better players (with deserving exceptions, of course). In the end, this years of experience is a key factor in predicting whether or not you will make it to the elite..

To succeed at something, dedicate 10,000 hours to it.

Malcolm Gladwell, reflecting on why elite athletes have the most experience, formulates a theory: to be very good at something, we must dedicate at least 10,000 hours to it.. It is necessary to train 10,000 hours to be really good at something and to be able to stand out above the rest, whether it is programming websites, playing basketball, playing an instrument....

This is a moral applicable to any area of working life. But there is room for other reflections. For example, it occurs to me to throw a question into the air: Are children's sports teams too focused on results? Because we may well think that December children are suffering from structural discrimination, which affects their potential to that affects their potential to develop their skills.

Educational implications: the Pygmalion Effect on children

In fact, the sports field may be just a reflection of an educational model a reflection of an educational model that makes similar mistakes.. When we evaluate children based on rigid parameters, December children are more likely to get lower grades.

This should be nothing to worry about, since a greater effort and the passing of the years should even out these small differences between students at the beginning of the year and those at the end of the year. However, the Pygmalion Effect explains that adults deposit in children certain desires and wishes that can help the child to form a healthy self-concept and learn to move towards certain goals and challenges, which will allow him/her to mature. Of course, this can also be the other way around: teachers who can negatively influence the self-concept of many "December kids". "December kids"..

• I invite you to learn more about the Pygmalion Effect: "The Pygmalion Effect: how children end up being the yearnings and fears of their parents."