The Magic of Starting Small

Being great doesn't mean you have to be perfect.

On Productivity…

Greatness is terrifying. Mastery is overwhelming.

In his 2008 book "Outliers: The Story of Success," Malcolm Gladwell popularized the concept that mastering a skill requires 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. To be the best of the best, you, dear reader, need to invest 10,000 hours (more or less) of focused effort. To put that in perspective, if you put in 3 hours every day…

Every.
Single.
Day.

It would take about 3,333 days (or just over 9 years) to reach the 10,000-hour mark. It’s daunting.

But what if mastery isn't your goal? What if, instead of aspiring to perform like Yo-Yo Ma, you simply aim to excel at playing the cello? You don't need to be Marques Brownlee; you just want to start and grow your YouTube channel. What if your aim is simply to be great? Being great is already an achievement that surpasses the efforts of more than 95% of people.

Becoming really good at something doesn't require thousands of hours—it takes just 100 hours. You won't be the best or elit…