In his bestseller Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell posited a theory that anyone can become great at anything as long as they put 10,000 hours honing the skill.
Well, Dan McLaughlin decided to put the 10,000 Hours Rule to the test by becoming a pro golfer:
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."
"If I could become a professional golfer," he said one afternoon, "the world is literally open to any options for anybody [who doesn't have to otherwise work to feed himself]."
But can anybody say correlation not causation? That, I dunno, maybe 10,000 hours is a necessary not a sufficient condition?