Sacrifice: Part 2

Last week I spoke of Sacrifice. Upon further reflection, I really need to elaborate about Sacrifice.

It’s simple really, there is a mathematical equation to success; you follow it, you succeed; you don’t, and you won’t.

The amount of work to become a professional in anything is 10,000 hours. Be it musicians, artists, athletes, writers, chess players, or master criminals…the equation is ALWAYS the same.

3 hours x 7 days a week (or roughly 20 hours a week) for 10 years = 10,000 hours or a professional in your craft (Caldwell 2008).

Now that we know the equation, lets take a look at famous people who have used it (whether they knew it or not).

One of the top selling bands of all time, the Beatles would travel to Hamburg, Germany to play in Strip Clubs. On their first trip they played a 106 nights, for 5 to 6 hours a night. Their second trip, 92 nights. Their third 48 but for a total of 172 hours on stage. Their final two times totaling over 90 hours performing. It was said that they preformed over 270 times in a year and a half. By the time they burst onto the scene in 1964 the Beatles had preformed over 1,200 times live, which is nothing short of astonishing. For, most bands don’t perform live 1,200 times in their entire career. But this is their 10,000 hours; this is what set them apart (Caldwell 2008).

Bill Gates, one of the wealthiest men on the planet, started Microsoft. However, when he was in high school, his teacher gave him and several students a pass to use the University of Washington’s Computer lab. Which was at the time, the most advanced computer lab in the country. Being a few miles from his house, young Bill would spend 5 days a week in that lab after school, often times staying in there until 3 or 4 am. 5 nights a week, from 4pm-4am from his freshmen year in high school until his senior year…10,000 hours (Caldwell 2008).

Are you beginning to see the pattern here? When understood, it seems so simple. There truly is a recipe for success. So learn it, apply it…and you shall achieve for dreams.

Colin Matteson
University of Alaska Basketball
Colin_Matteson@msn.com
206.697.2498