Debunked: Why 10,000 Hours Is NOT the Ticket to Success—Here's What Is
Here’s my contrarian take. The 10,000 hours is bullshit.
The best odds for success…
Skill Stacking.
But let's first look at the popular wisdom of the 10,000 hours (made popular by Malcolm Gladwell).
How many people do you know who are truly experts or masters in their field?
Think about it.
How many kids play soccer, hockey, basketball or dance from 5 years old through high school (definitely over 10,000 hours)?
How many become pro?
One study found the percentage was .023%.
The most overlooked approach is stacking a unique combo of skills.
Skill Stacking.
What is skill stacking?
Remember Mega Man and how every time he defeated a new villain, he was able to copy that villain's special weapon.
And eventually, by acquiring all these special abilities, he was able to defeat Dr. Wily.
This is the same as skill stacking.
Another analogy for skill stacking is how my daughter puts together her ensemble.
On the surface, each item looks to be unrelated and seems to clash.
But once complete, she emerges as a strong and capable superhero who can accomplish anything.
The great thing is you don’t have to be an expert in any one of them.
By creating a combo of unique skills it can be a cheat code to success.
One of my favorite business personalities is Codie Sanchez.
Her skill stack has made her a boring business-buying powerhouse (and multi-millionaire).
She started a career as a journalist (writing) at the US-Mexico border, covering human trafficking and giving a voice to the unknown.
She realized that what put these victims in the position was the lack of money.
She then went into Mergers and Acquisitions (finance) at Goldman Sachs, a fancy way of saying she learned to get a good deal when buying a business.
She then began to focus on small businesses, the types of businesses that Goldman wasn’t focusing on (small business expertise).
Stacking these skills ‘Writing’ + ‘Finance’ + ‘Small Business Expertise’ has allowed her to write the book on how to buy small businesses.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my skill stack. And honestly, I wish I would have thought about it more when I was younger.
But I’m excited to encourage my kids to think about their Skill Stack for success.
I’m of the opinion there are two types of skills that should be included in our skill stack
1) Practical skills: writing, sales, communication and
2) Unique skills: arborist, improv, sommelier, permaculturist, puzzle-solving, etc.
The unique skills I would describe as obscure passions.
The skill stack that creates the most value for me is:
healthcare strategy consulting + B2B sales + writing.
I’m not a master of any of these, but together they make me marketable and make me money.
What obscure hobby do your children have that should be part of a skill stack?
