10,000 Hours? Really? That Much?

Outsiders always underestimate the amount of work that goes into expertise ... What's interesting about the 10,000 hour rule ... is not that you need to practice to be good - we knew that. It's that you need to practice that much. Who would have said it was 10 years of practice to get good? We would have said maybe five or four or three ... It's the sheer vastness of the preparation - that's what's amazing to the outsider.

-Malcolm Gladwell (in conversation with Charlie Rose)