how to fail: be diverse

David Beckham knows something you don’t.

Sure, Beckham knows how to curl a soccer ball 35-yards over a wall of opposing players and have the ball dip into the bottom corner of the goal at just the right moment. But he also knows a bigger secret: as long as he can bend a soccer ball like that, he’ll never have to develop any other skills on the field.

We’re programmed to believe that we must be well-rounded people with diverse skill sets. We craft our college applications in such a way as to prove we could major in anything and be successful. When we interview for jobs, we’re trained to show off how we have strengths in all areas and that makes us the perfect candidate.

And yet the secret of world-class performers is the exact opposite.

World-class performers do not try to develop themselves as well-rounded athletes, musicians or artists with diverse skills sets. World-class performers become world-class performers because they dedicated their time to developing one area to become world-class in. Author Malcolm Gladwell’s new book Outliers sheds some light on this principle. Gladwell proposes that world-class performers spend 10,000 hours practicing a skill in order to master it.

10,000 hours is 40 hours per week for almost 5 years.

There isn’t much time to develop much else in those 5 years.

If you try to be diverse, try to make yourself appeal to what everyone is looking for, you will permanently establish yourself in the ranks with everyone else. Instead, find something you do well, and love doing so much that you can donate 40 hours per week for 5 years doing it. Then, you will become a master. Then, people will come from all around the world to see you do it. Then, you will be world-class. And then, you’ll win.

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