In the book Outliers by Malcom Gladwell there’s a theory that posits that if you do anything for 10,000 hours, you’ll be an expert. A former commercial photographer named Dan McLaughlin has decided to put the theory to the test.
Although he’d never golfed before, could he become a professional golfer in 10,000 hours? That works out to six hours per day, six days a week for six years (6x6x6x52=11,232 hours). So far, he’s only a little more than a year in, so it’ll be interesting to see if he can keep it up.
Could he stop being one thing and start being another? Could he, an average man, 5 feet 9 and 155 pounds, become a pro golfer, just by trying? Dan’s not doing an experiment. He is the experiment.
The Dan Plan will take six hours a day, six days a week, for six years. He is keeping diligent records of his practice and progress. People who study expertise say no one has done quite what Dan is doing right now.
Dan spent last month in St. Petersburg because winters are winters in the Pacific Northwest. “If I could become a professional golfer,” he said one afternoon, “the world is literally open to any options for anybody.”
Read the rest of the article. This is so inspiring.