In 2008, Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell published a book that made this statement: in order to succeed at anything, you need 10,000hours of mastery. Ancient tried-tested-and-dissected advice. Practice practice practice makes perfect.

But there’s a difference between ‘perfect’ and AMAZING/remarkable/life-changing. And I’d like to drop this thought in your head:

Mastery of anything = 10,000hours. World-changing breakthrough = 10,000 Failures.

Life’s too short to spend it attaining mastery of the status quo. And I think most of us are after the remarkable breakthrough…doing the ONE thing that changes everything.

Just like Thomas Edison with his 10,000 failures before inventing the light bulb. Or James Dyson with only 5,126 failures before developing his the Dyson.

And countless others.

This is not just a romantic inspirational sentimental nice option. It’s a fact, and one we need to embrace if we hope to do anything worth talking about.

10,000 failed blog posts. 10,000 stories that don’t work. 10,000 bad jokes. 10,000 failed prototypes. 10,000 scrapped cartoons. 10,000…failures aka “things that didn’t work out the way we hoped they would.”

It is scary. It is messy. And it is worth it. Your legacy is waiting for you on the other side of your fears.

Mastery of anything = 10,000 hours (give or take). World-changing breakthrough = 10,000 Failures.

If you’re waiting for the bell to ring or a starter’s pistol to tell you it’s time to run…

If you’re waiting on the cheers of a crowd, applause as you take the first step into the unknown…

I’m sorry to disappoint you, but it’s not coming.

The silence is your applause. The jeers, criticism are your audience reaction. Failure is the mark of progress.

All to answer a question with a resounding yes: do you have the strength of character to stay the course?

Do you want it bad enough to go after it anyway?

#1 Read this.

Wolfman Jack was an artist. He didn’t say ‘I wonder what teenagers want.’ He just went on the radio. And the teenagers that wanted to hear Wolfman Jack, tuned in. That’s your opportunity: it’s to say what you believe and see who follows. – Seth Godin

#2 Watch this

[Update-Click here]: Exclusive interview with Seth Godin from GiANT Impact on Vimeo.

#3 Do this: say what you believe, and see who follows.

From the moment we’re born, we realize we’re in a game that started long before we got here.

Life.

We’re behind and surrounded by strange lights, cold air, strange faces, an alien environment to the warmth of the womb.

We’ve got work to do.

So we hustle, figure out how to walk, talk, escape the playpen, make our voice heard, negotiate, enunciate, communicate…we’re hustling our way through the Game.

Every challenge is just an opportunity.

The world is wonderful and we want to explore.

And then somewhere along the way we get lost. We grow up. We rationalize with the rational lies of responsibility, job, etc as the reason why we CAN’T keep pursuing, can’t keep playing the game.

So we settle down and check out of the Game.

We become Spectators of the Game of life, numbing the inner stirring with a pay cheque, favourite TV show, and hyper-active Twitter account.

But here’s the deal. This blog post isn’t about getting back in the game.

Cos the truth is, you never left.

No one can.

There are No spectators. And everybody is playing the Game, whether they believe it or not.

Some play with guts, passion, reckless abandon, boundless curiosity, trying umpteen things, scraping their knees, bruising their elbows, tripping, stumbling, straining, stretching, and reaching for the elusive and invisible…

And others sit down on the field and spend their life critiqueing the Players, whining about the conditions of play, and complaining about which way the ball is bouncing.

They’re the same ones who are sleepwalking through the most amazing revolution of all time where Average Joes and Plain Janes launch blogs, write books, start businesses , overthrow governments, overhaul religions, and make meaningful connections.

These “sleepwalkers”‘ are the same ones who proudly hold onto their titles, their qualifications because it’s beneath them to start something new, something where they could make a mistake along the way to reinventing who they are.

No, they’d much rather sit on the track, lay down on the field, and play the lamest game ever…putting their 2year old selves to great shame.

You’re not them, but you’ve been acting like them and using them to excuse your laziness.

Stop. This is a wake-up call. Rediscover your Hustle, and get your head back in the game.

For real.

2011 is your year to Think Small.

Small like an iPod (instead of an old 80s boom box).

Small like an intimate conversation with someone you love (instead of the loud background noise in a room full of strangers).

Small like a great blog, business, or project with 1,000 true fans (instead of a Facebook or Twitter account with a zillion nosey lurkers) .

Small like working a 4-hour week doing absolutely what you love (instead of an 80-hour week getting paid to do what you think you have to).

Small like your circle of family, close friends, your local community, the homeless guy down the street, the public library round the corner (instead of the big wide world plastered on the front pages of Noisepapers and TV screens).

Small like 10 minutes to read your daughter a bedtime story each night (instead of 2-weeks sometime in the future to take her to Disneyland Paris).

Small like a handwritten personal note saying “thank you” every time somebody does you a good turn/inspires you/does something that you admire (instead of a million pounds on interruption to get people’s attention).

Small like the next sentence, next phone call, next day, next practical step that you can take right now (instead of the overwhelming bigness of your desire to do something amazing in 2011).

Yes, we’re at  the end of the year already. And yes, many have already written off the year and are holding out for New Year’s eve when they can start again with Big promises, Big new resolutions…

Just like they did last year, and all the years before that.

Leave them to it.

And while you’re at it, cancel your year-long subscription to the perpetual “mind-spam” from the Noisepapers and others who are going to do their best to hype you about Big.

Big promises from politicians. Big problems in the economy. Big discounts in flailing businesses. Big hikes in the price of petrol. Big concerns about the environment. Big dangers on the streets. Big botoxed celebrities frantically grasping for your attention. Big trouble overseas. Big trouble at home. Big, big, big, big big stuff that you can do absolutely nothing about except waste time, energy and opportunities through worrying about it.

But you’re too smart to fall for that trap.

Just remember, with 25 days to go, 2011 is still your year to Think Small.

Start now.
Image courtesy of Chris Messina

image: 20millionjobs.com
* Jordan photo: I have missed

“Enjoy failure and learn from it. You can never learn from success.” – James Dyson

If yoUr goal were to be like all the mediocre, celebrity critics, pushing yoU to have a ‘nice’ CV, good grades, perfect record…then yoU’d listen to them. yoU would have stayed in school, stuck with the career, worked yoUr way up the ladder, practice, practice, practice…

But yoUr after something more.

A real breakthrough, something nobody else is doing in quite the way yoU can see yoUrself doing it.

Nobody else thinks they need it. They say yoU won’t get a job doing it. And they call yoU a FAILURE for tripping up down an unmarked path they think yoU’ve got no business going down.

Take that as a compliment, because the key to success is continuing to give yoUrself freedom to FAIL.

images: 20millionjobs.com + inspiringlifethoughts.com

The Kardashians are not necessarily any smarter, or prettier, or more creative than you, me, or even James Bond.

But they are more intense about the way they do things…where the definition of intense is:

highly concentrated, extremely earnest or serious, expressing or marked by strong emotion.

The same is true for every pop artist who can’t sing, every Hollywood star who can’t act, and every celebrity who is famous for simply being famous.

They’re not as good as you. Not even close. But, they are extremely intense about flaunting, marketing, and taking advantage of every slight advantage they have.

Imagine what would happen if you dared to believe in yourself at least as much as the Kardashians do.

No, you don’t need to wear outlandish clothes, be a loud, wild extrovert, or be anything other than yourself.

But there are actions you’ll need to take that are waaaay outside your comfort zone if you’re serious about getting what you want.

You’re going to have to sprint for it, stretch for it, push yourself to the point of exhaustion, go to bed tired, and then get up again to do it all over the next day.

In other words, you’re going to have to do what you are already doing…but with more intensity.

More Intensity from John 8Asians on Vimeo.