Do you want to be a genius?

The good news is that you can be as brilliant as Tiger Woods, Warren Buffet, or even Mozart! The bad news is that you are probably a bit too late. But don’t despair, there is still hope.

Geoff Colvin’s book, Talent is Overrated (ISBN: 978-1591842941), repeated what Malcolm Gladwell mentioned in Outliers that there is a magical 10,000 hours for geniuses. Anyone can perform as brilliantly as a genius after about 10,000 hours of practice. In fact, many studies revealed that the majority of those prodigious geniuses — Tiger Woods, Warren Buffet, Mozart — did just that. The only difference is that they started early and so appeared to be childhood prodigies. If you trace their training history, you will find that they all achieved the “greatness” level after about 10 years’ training.

I knew one such genius myself. It was first grade. He surpassed me oh so effortlessly on every subject and clinched #1 in class ranking without a hint of studying. I was so jealous of his brilliancy. He was the darling of every mother. “Why can’t you be like him?” I wanted to hate him, but he asked me to play at his house, so I did.

As we played, his mother was tutoring his elder brother right next to us (we all live in small apartments, there wasn’t much privacy then). And I found out why he invited me. I was his shield, his excuse, and his escape. Without I being there, his mother would have drilled and tutored him at the same time — one effort for the benefit of two. Ha! He was no genius. In fact, poor guy, he was trapped by his under-performing brother so that he couldn’t play everyday as I. We became best friends and, uh, his grades declined quickly.

So, if you wish to play like Tiger, invest like Warren, or compose like Mozart, all you have to do is put in about 10,000 hours of practice. On average, that would take about 10 years. That’s the good news. The bad news is by the time you finished that 10 years, others would have done their 20 years. Where is the hope? In professional fields and business, most people don’t really get better with time and 2,000 hours of practice are enough to make you shine. If you would spend half a day every week, that’s 4 hours a week, you will be quite good in a year’s time. If you keep it up, you will be super in about 3 years. It may be hard to be a brilliant golfer, but it takes surprising less to be better than everyone around you.

Are you willing to do 4 extra hours of practicing every week for a year? I have given this advice to many people, almost 100% had their lives get in the way: family, friends, kids, entertainment, social activities, etc. In the end, no one put in those hours.

Sadly, I concluded you really don’t want to be a genius. You just want an excuse of not being one.