10,000 Hours: Two Ways to Achieve

by -


Theresa Behenna, renowned musician and speaker, not only

Theresa Behenna (right) at a recent event

performed for respected individuals such as Elton John and Princess Grace, and not only can play a song as if it was a Beatles number, but she loves what she does. On stage, she enjoys bantering with the audience. Though when you’re paid to play music and speak, of course you love what you do, right?

Actually, loving what you do is what leads to success down the road.
Ms. Behenna as a speaker promotes both practice and passion using the 10,000 hours theory.
10,000 hours, but isn’t that, like, over a year or something?
Collectively yes, the time adds up but that is time well spent. The 10,000 hours theory (originally conceived by Malcolm Gladwell) means that to be truly great at something, one puts time and effort into such activity. Studies conducted in Germany in the 1990s looked at violin players. The elite players loved the craft so much that they spent more time training outside of their designated practice times compared with peers who did not. The same can be said for Olympic athletes or professional dancers when analyzing how much time they spent training.
Behenna, clearly in love with her musical craft, spreads her joy through song, encouraging others to do the same using examples like Bill Gates who poured thousands of hours into what eventually became Microsoft before dropping out of college to start his company and the Beatles, who played thousands of local concerts for unappreciative audiences to improve themselves before their international fame. 
One can go on and list names of people who earned success despite heavy failures throughout most of their lives, people like Walt Disney, Abraham Lincoln, L. Frank Baum. Millions want to create the next big animated movie, become president, or write the next classic American fairy tale.
How does the average person become extraordinary? There are two reasons.
The first is to do something for the right reason. 
To be successful, as stated several times already, one must love what they do. This way, they are motivated to improve, but even the most menial tasks like tuning that violin or lifting a weight become part of the whole experience.
The second part is not being afraid of failure. 
As Theresa Behenna says, “Fear is what you pass on the way to success.”

Remember that Bill Gates and the Beatles were once considered averages Joes and garage band geeks. It is easy to look at records broken, or an enviable net worth and think it came easily and that they don’t have to work anymore. We do not see the crashed systems, the late nights, the disagreements, the unappreciative small-town crowds. Plus, if you didn’t have to work again, what would you do with all that time? It’s thanks to devoted computer programmers that we have a place for all those cat videos.

 For more information on all of our speakers, please visit us at AEISpeakers.com and follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

No Comments

Be the first to start a conversation

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)