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There is an opinion that if you do something for 100 hours, you will be better than 95% of people on this planet. And there is also a second opinion, that if you do something for 10,000 hours, you will literally become a master of that craft. The myth about 100 hours circulates on the internet in the form of a meme. And many people think that it is enough to do one thing for 100 hours to become better than 95% of people on this planet. The 10,000-hour rule was introduced by Malcolm Gladwell in his outstanding book, where he says that if you do any activity for more than 10,000 hours, you will become a master of that craft. Is this true? Let's talk about it today.
Surely, among those who are watching this video now, there are very many professionals. Please write in the comments how much time you spent to become a professional in your field. This will be extremely interesting for everyone.
The process of learning something new or the process of becoming an expert in any field consists of several stages and several phases, which, in turn, are characterized by their own features and their own specific challenges. These stages help us understand how or through what a person goes on the path of self-improvement in any field, on the path of improving their skills and knowledge. Let's go through these stages.
The first stage is called unconscious incompetence. This is the very first stage with which any person begins. At this stage, a person is very motivated, they are inspired, they want to develop, and they live in anticipation of what they will receive when they become a professional. They do not yet see all the difficulties, barriers, obstacles, and so on. They only see the positive side of the activity they have started. This is the stage when, in common parlance, a person does not yet know that they do not know, and everyone goes through this stage. And, by the way, I want to give a warning right away. The fact is that the majority of people are at this stage. And the problem of this stage is not even in the stage itself, but in the fact that at this stage people very often make wrong decisions. At this stage, they do not yet realize their incompetence. They think they know something, but in reality they don't. That is, they don't know that they don't know. And imagine when a person at this stage makes any decisions, what catastrophic consequences this can lead to. Therefore, the very realization that you don't know something will save you from at least 50% of all the mistakes you make, and perhaps even more.
The second stage is called conscious incompetence. When a person has moved from the first stage, they have moved to the second level of conscious incompetence. For myself, for example, I define that this stage or this level of conscious incompetence is a kind of cutoff point. I call this level exactly that: cutoff point or valley of death. As a rule, at this stage, 95% of people give up. They do not continue further. Because at this stage, when a person studies any new area, they become aware of their problems and their gaps in their knowledge and skills. And they, uh, begin to see how much they need to learn. And thus, they face immense disappointment, a feeling of insecurity, a feeling of burnout, demotivation. And a person does not want to continue going further because there is too much to do.
If we draw an analogy, it's, you know, I usually call the valley of death when you go into the mountains, it's the first third of the ascent. Imagine, a mountain hike. Before the mountain, you are still walking on level ground. You have a slight incline, a small gradient, you are full of enthusiasm, you are inspired, you are motivated, you live in anticipation of how you will take photos, selfies at the top from the mountain peak and how all your friends will admire you and praise you. This is the first stage. The second stage is when you have started climbing and are going through the first third of the mountain. At this moment, your results are still very weak, and you realize how unprepared you are, and you, looking ahead at the mountain, understand how much more and how long you have to go, and how many difficulties await you ahead. And this is where 95% of people usually give up. But at the same time, those people who have realized the value of their goal, at this stage, gain even more specific anger. motivation, that no, I will still reach it. This is such a stage that polarizes and divides people into those who gave up, and this is, as a rule, 95% of people, and those who gritted their teeth and said to themselves: "I will definitely reach it."
The third stage is called conscious competence. At this stage, a person already feels some results. If we take the analogy with the mountain, then imagine, this is the stage when a person is already in the middle of the mountain. So, at this stage, they have already spent a lot of effort, they have spent a lot of labor, a lot of energy. They no longer want to quit. At the same time, they have already tasted the first fruits, and especially they have tasted their victories, overcoming themselves. And they are already beginning to gain a certain confidence. They are beginning to feel that they will achieve their goal. And they understand that they need to move forward, although it will be difficult, but at the same time, the part, the half of the way they have traveled, motivates them.
At this stage, people also stop, but they now have a different reason for stopping. They very often stop because they feel that they have enough. They simply do not want to go further. And the goal that motivated them before ceases to motivate them. It turns out that they already have certain victories in their pocket, and they no longer consider themselves failures. But at the same time, they no longer want to move forward, because for them the price of achieving the goal and the taste of victory is no longer so great a difference. And at this stage, many people also give up, but they give up for a completely different reason. For the reason that they believe that they have enough.
Let me give an example with myself. For example, last year we went to Everest Base Camp, and I consciously set myself the goal of going to Base Camp, but under no circumstances to Everest itself. That is, for me, for example, it was enough to reach Everest Base Camp, which is almost 6,000 meters above sea level. And I consider myself to be in that category of people, if we take this classification. That I did not set myself the goal of climbing Everest, I set myself the goal of reaching Base Camp. This is more than enough for me. So it is in life, when you achieve a goal, many people, having passed the first two stages, especially the second stage, which I call the Valley of Death, having passed it, come to this stage of unconscious competence, feel the first fruits of victory and say: "This is enough for me." And if we take, for example, some professional field, at this stage you simply acquire certain skills that are sufficient for you to, in principle, live a normal life.
I will give one more analogy. For example, you know, at one time, when I was learning to pilot helicopters, I looked at the mortality statistics. And there was amazing statistics, it's global, that the highest mortality among pilots is the first 100 hours. And this is understandable, these are people at the very first stage, or rather, at the second stage. This is conscious incompetence. I would even say a boundary between unconscious incompetence and conscious incompetence, when beginners are inspired, enthusiastic, but at the same time they have insufficient knowledge and skills, and due to their lack of knowledge and skills, they cause accidents. Further, starting from 100 flight hours to 1,000 flight hours, as a rule, accidents fall, fall, fall, fall. And starting from 1,000 hours, accident rates increase again. And when I studied, it turned out that accident rates increase for one reason. That at this stage, and this stage is already conscious competence, a person believes that they know everything. They believe that they can do everything, know everything, and they can afford to be a little reckless. And this recklessness leads to an increase in accidents. Further, accidents fall again, fall, fall. And the last jump occurs when a person has 5,000 flight hours. I was surprised why such experienced pilots with 5,000 flight hours have an increase in accident rates again. This was due to the fact that they moved to the fourth stage, which is called unconscious competence. This is when a person knows so much that they do everything on autopilot, without engaging their brain. And thanks to this, experienced, overly experienced pilots begin to ignore elementary safety rules. Their eyes become glazed over, and they do everything, well, you could say, with their hands, without engaging their heads.
At this stage, usually a person or, uh, a person's skills and knowledge become so much theirs, they penetrate them so much and become internal, that it becomes their second nature. In order to do their job professionally, they exert almost no effort and, as a rule, do not engage their brain. They think little, they do more. This is both good and bad. As I said, it's good because a person does everything at the level of instincts, very quickly, without thinking. But it's bad because very often it leads to the fact that a person begins to ignore elementary safety rules or performs actions on autopilot.
And, by the way, there is also a good test. Before making any decision or before engaging in any dangerous or complex activity, ask yourself: at what stage of competence are you? What is this for? I have a rule or algorithm for decision-making. And in this algorithm for decision-making, one of the points states: clearly define your level of competence. That is, when I make a decision on any direction, I first define my level of competence for myself. At what stage am I? At the stage that I don't know that I don't know. Or at the stage that I think I know, or at the stage when I know for sure that I know.
By the way, I'll give you a good life hack right away to determine if a specialist or expert or employee you are hiring understands the issue or not. Immediately see how they react to the tasks you give them. If they immediately start performing them without thinking, it means they know. And if they start thinking, then most likely they are not yet competent enough. Here, too, you need to consider these nuances. That is, I always recommend that when you receive advice from any expert or any specialist, you also first start by assessing their level of competence, because it would be extremely foolish to take someone's advice and recommendations without first ensuring their competence. Therefore, these stages and phases of a person's professional growth have purely practical significance for improving the quality of your life. All these stages are passed by all 100% of people in the process of increasing their professionalism. Therefore, this must be taken into account. But different people go through them at different speeds. Some go through these stages faster, some slower, but plus or minus all people go through these stages approximately the same.
Without going through these stages, it doesn't matter how many hours you have spent. Very often, many people spend a huge amount of hours without moving from one stage to another. And this happens because people in the process of self-development very often engage in routine activities that do not lead to the growth of their professionalism. That is, they do not have a self-development strategy or, uh, they do not have a strategy for increasing their professionalism.