Over-Many-Nights Success

Becoming an “overnight” success takes years of work.

There's a good chance you've heard of the ten-thousand-hour rule. 

Malcolm Gladwell popularized the idea that it takes a lot of deliberate practice — or 10,000 hours — to be good at a complex task. Justin Bieber even made a song entitled “10,000 Hours.”

What's less well known is the "ten years of silence" rule. 

The psychologist John Hayes studied how long it took great composers to produce their masterpieces. He looked at 500 of the top pieces from 76 different composers.

Almost all the composers created their notable works at least ten years after beginning a serious study of music. They had at least "ten years of silence" before producing their best. The only exceptions Hayes found occurred in years eight or nine. 

Most "overnight" successes were doing the grunt work for years.

Admittedly, it is possible in our social media age to go viral for drinking juice on a skateboard, but even that guy had surely been skateboarding for years. 

With sufficient practice, we might achieve success. Perhaps we never go viral but still become successful friends or family members. 

And if we're not quite there, maybe we need some more years of silence.