Thoughts on 10000 hours

Thoughts on 10000 Hours

Malcolm Gladwell popularized research on expertise and the importance of practice

Years ago, I read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.  This book is an examination of what sets successful people apart.  A key message is that many high achievers originally thought to have true innate abilities or intelligence, actually succeeded due to an enormous number of hours training and practicing.  Two examples were the Beatles and Bill Gates of Microsoft.  The Beatles, prior to their American debut, had several years where they performed almost 8 hours a day 6-7 days a week in clubs in Hamburg, German. Bill Gates, spent most of his summers and evenings in high school in one of the largest computer labs around at that time.  Gladwell, based on research on violin players by Anders Ericsson, stated that the number of hours it seems to take to reach expert status is about 10000.

New veterinarians and 10000 Hours

I found this interesting for a lot of reasons.  One is thinking about how long it takes to reach this number.  If you work 40 hours a week at your job, 50 weeks a year, that is 2000 hours a year.  Thus, it really is 5 years to be good at what you do. It takes longer if you are part time, if you take vacations, or if you switch jobs or professions.  This innately makes sense to me.  I remember feeling in my 5^th year as a veterinarian that it just wasn’t quite as hard as it used to be.

When I worked as the medical director of our hospital, I realized that this 5-year mark was also when most veterinarians who worked with me came into their own.  After a while, when I hired a new ER veterinarian, I would simply tell them, you’ll have lots of struggles for the next few years and then you are going to be GREAT.

I thought about this concept again recently when I was thinking about the myth of work life balance.  When we finish veterinary school, we want to have time not only at work but with our families, taking care of our own health, and being part of our communities.  However, in order to reach that place of success, you do have to put in the hours.  The longer it takes you to put in those initial hours, the longer it will be before your job starts to feel easier.

Specialists, Practice Owners and 10000 hours

The concept of 10,000 hour is also interesting when thinking about medical or veterinary residency training programs.  Most residencies are 3 years and residents often work closer to 60 hours a week.  If you work 60-70 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, that will get you close to 10000 in 3 years.

I think this same concept of 10000 hours also holds when you start or purchase a business.  It really was 3-5 years before  I felt I was approaching competence as an owner.   This probably seems daunting to prospective owners. But what if you viewed your first 3-5 years of business ownership like a residency?  As an investment in your future?  I do think it gets easier once you put in a certain number of hours.

Hours Alone are not enough

After the publication of Outliers, Anders Ericsson published Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise, to clarify his original research.  Practice hours are absolutely needed for improvement. However, the exact figure of 10,000 was a construct based on averages for violin players. In addition, Ericsson’s research showed that it was both number AND importantly, the type of practice hours.

Ericsson found that in most fields, individuals improved the most through “deliberate practice.” Deliberate practice involves focusing on tasks that are just beyond your current level of competence and comfort. It also involves feedback.  If you are musician, this means not just playing a couple songs over and over to reach a set number of hours. Instead practice is concentrated on the hardest parts of a song you are learning or on a new song just a bit harder than what you have played before.  Ericsson stated in a Harvard Business Review article, “Research across domains shows that it is only by working at what you can’t do that you turn into the expert you want to become.”

Deliberate practice for veterinarians

If you want to be a truly great veterinarian, this research suggests that just seeing cases won’t be enough.  Instead, you need to seek out cases that challenge you, try procedures you have not done before, and get feedback on cases you refer.  This is the other reason residencies are successful – you have a mentor who pushes you to handle those cases that are hard and then gives you feedback so you improve for the next one.

This type of learning is possible outside of residencies.  I started my career as an after-hours emergency veterinarian working on my own.  In this role, I saw cases but had no set mechanism to get feedback.  Thus, it was hard to learn if I was right in my diagnosis or competent in my surgeries. I decided to keep a case log.  I used the log to call veterinarians for feedback on the difficult cases I sent to them.  This was an amazing way to learn what I had done right, what I missed, and where I needed to improve.   Based on this experience, I encourage all new veterinarians, especially in emergency or doing relief, to keep a case log so that they can use it to follow up and get feedback.

Deliberate practice for veterinary practice owners

As a practice owner, you will also improve faster if you approach  the job like a residency and push boundaries.  When things go awry, you need to read, think, and research to find a better path for the next time. You need to challenge yourself to do the things that improve your practice but that you find hard.  You have to seek and listen to feedback from your staff, from your clients, and from your business advisors.

Mistakes and mindset

During periods of intense learning, you have to be mentally prepared that you will make mistakes.  In Stephen King’s memoir, On Writing, he notes that he had a several inch thick stack of rejection notes by the time his first novel was published.  He didn’t get to be a famous author by chance.  He got there by long hours practicing his trade, being willing to take feedback, and being incredibly persistent.

Developing into a successful veterinarian and a successful veterinary owner is a lot about mindset.  As a new veterinarian, your will find work easier if you are mentally prepared for putting in the hours, making mistakes, and asking for feedback. New veterinary practice owners will also find this job easier if approached with a similar mindset.