How good can you become at what you do? The very best in the game, it seems, if you are prepared to put in the effort. There is evidence (see Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell) that 10,000 hours of practice separates the really high achievers from the also-ran.

Doesn’t sound like a lot of hours till you do the math – at fours a day, 250 days a year, the practice will take you 10 years! 10,000 hours of practice is what Roger Federer, Bill Gates, Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Jordan and so many other high achievers have in common.

What does this mean for you? There are no shortcuts to success. It’s a lot of practice and hard work. After that, you need healthy doses of luck.

Who said joining the ranks of the super successful was easy?