The 10,000 Hour Rule: The Secret for Tech-Savvy Children

The 10,000 Hour Rule: The Secret for Tech-Savvy Children

• AUGUST 28, 2020

The 10,000-hour principle is a gamechanger for perceptions of learning and performance.

Introduced by Malcolm Gladwell in his book ‘Outliers: The Story of Success’, the principle is simple in its claim– give something 10,000 hours of practice, and you’ll become a master. What separates a novice from a professional, according to this theory, is roughly 416 full days of deliberate practice. That’s 3 hours a day, every day, for 10 years straight.

Naturally, this principle doesn’t call for half-hearted pursuits of goals that are too high or unrealistic; it involves deliberate and regular practise outside of one’s comfort zone. It acknowledges natural talent and innate ability but puts success down to a continuous period of hard work and razor-sharp focus.

If you conducted a dipstick check of industries, you’d find that many successful leaders and creators of business empires are products of this principle. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mozart and Tiger Woods put in the hours from a young age, as early in their lives as high school. In return for their hard work, they became industrial and cultural icons atop high-revenue empires.

The 10,000 Rule for Children in a Technology-First World

When applied to children in academics, sports, the arts or any other discipline they’re involved in, the 10,000-hour principle can manifest peak performance. It inculcates, from a very young age, a thirst for knowledge coupled with a honing of discipline and innate abilities.

For children to become a cut above the rest, discipline and hard work must be second nature by the time they’re out in the real world– and that means 10,000 hours from when they’re 6 to 8 years old.

All of these are crucial for children entering a tech-first world in a few years, indeed building it for themselves.

Much like Bill Gates, whose first tryst with a computer happened in eighth grade, children can be exposed to technology from a very young age and be allowed to experiment and explore their potential.

Start Early to Master Your Potential

Children and young students are blank slates waiting to be filled with knowledge and learning for survival. As we barrel towards a technology-driven future in no less than a few years from now, tomorrow’s technology professionals, founders and entrepreneurs must start practising today. Practice and hard work lowers barriers, strengthens fundamental concepts and opens up new avenues for learning, passion and individual growth.

Modo Edulabs envisions a world where our children are futuristic, digitally savvy and technologically skilled – who go on to solve big problems using technology and create the next big innovations that will impact human lives. We prepare our kids for the 21st century through our innovative online courses and custom-designed programs.