That’s my beloved daughter by marriage, Hannah Richter, learning some new chords on her dad’s Martin D-28 acoustic guitar. Mark figures he’s put in about 5,000 hours on the guitar since he started playing in his teens. Hannah just started last year. If she plays 10 hours a week, 52 weeks a year for the next 10 years, she’ll accrue 5200 hours of practice by the age of 31.

And if she ups it to 30 hours a week, she can do it in 3.33 years. But if she plays 30 hours a week, 52 weeks a year for 6.5 years, she can pass the 10,000 hour mark! Yes, nearly a full time job… and the path to MASTERY.

Malcolm Gladwell, in his new book, Outliers, shares his discoveries about what really contributes to exceptional individual accomplishment in one’s profession. (I read this book at Michael McLean’s suggestion. More about Michael in a minute.)

Gladwell’s research discovered a remarkable thing – most folks reached a MASTERY level of expertise after approximately 10,000 hours of practice.

H. Jackson Brown said, "Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein."

Michelangelo said, “If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all.”

Michael McLean, friend, mastermind buddy and winner of the “Marketer of the Year” at the 2009 SuperConference, won because of ONE thing: his mastery. He marketed his insurance business consistently, fervently and over a longer period of time than the contest competition.

While at the conference, each contestant was given a new task to determine the final winner. This is where Michael’s exceptional mastery came into play. Michael used to own and coach a hockey team in Canada. Before that, he played hockey competitively for many thousands of hours. He took the mastery he acquired playing and coaching hockey and applied it to his insurance business.

At the competition, Michael rounded up a bunch of his insurance associates. He and his five supporters locked themselves up in a hotel suite for 48 hours, without sleep, and did research, set up new web sites, got video testimonials and more… in 48 hours!

As for the other two contestants, one was convinced he was the winner (but didn’t use his actual business expertise in the competition… ooops) and the other was having a good time and either didn’t play to win or just didn’t care.

Michael relied on HIS MASTERY to win the competition.

Michael reads marketing books, takes marketing seminars and implements marketing ideas like no one I’ve ever met. He’s original, uplifting and humorous. His lovely partner, Krista Hearty, a healer and teacher who you’ll be hearing more from in the coming months and years, and their Golden Retriever, Avery, are frequent guests in his marketing. He also offers free pizza to new clients and his competition doesn’t. In fact, his competition is so envious of Michael’s marketing prowess, they actually advertise, “No Free Pizza,” which drives even more business to Michael’s company! Michael puts in the time and wins. Consistently. Joyfully. I dare say, masterfully!

While enjoying Angus Young wail on his guitar at the recent AC/DC concert in Ottawa, Michael leaned over to Mark and I and said, “I bet he’s put in his 10,000 hours, eh?”

I’ve noticed a trend over the past 15 years or so in all sectors of public life of looking for “man’s easy way to riches.” Show me a successful person and I will show you 10,000 hours plus at their profession before they hit mastery.

After doing some rough calculations, I figure I’ve logged 7,000 hours reading hands, 6,000 hours coaching folks, 5200 hours writing and over 8,000 hours reading (primarily non-fiction books at 15 hours a week) over the last 11 years of being in business for myself. There are also untold hours of researching, attending conferences, being coached and implementing, organizing and marketing in my business. Also, I do not watch television except the occasional weekend movie. If you are watching more than one hour of TV per day, you are losing massive time that could be dedicated toward your desired mastery.

We may live in a quantum universe but that doesn’t mean instant manifestation. What it means is that when you commit to something with passion, you release other opportunities, increasing your success in the reality you have chosen and are essentially creating. Beethoven and Mozart may have died young – but they’d logged their 10,000 hours as musicians before they died.

There is a direct connection between money and time. The more time you put in toward your mastery, the higher the fees you can command. Why? Because you are an expert and your clients know the difference! You can accrue your expertise quickly or slowly, but accrue it you must! There are other ways to manifest money, of course, but if you’re playing the business game, you need to have expertise to contribute to others.

If this discourages you, congratulations! I have laid out for countless clients the amount of time, capital and energy their particular business goals will require and I often hear, “But Baeth, that’s discouraging. Can’t it be easier?”

Ummm… no.

Ease is a matter of perspective. If by ‘ease’ you mean with little effort and little time, you may as well get a job – or keep buying lotto tickets. But if by ‘ease’ you mean with joy, enthusiasm, persistence, and dedication, then YES, the keys to the kingdom are yours!

I love what I do, so it’s ‘easy.’ Does it take up most of my time? You bet! Besides, what would I be doing instead? I’d be searching for a purpose (like 98% of the human population!) that I wish would consume me with passion so I could commit to it, absorb it and master it. Once you master ONE THING, you gain access to ALL THINGS (including money, luxury and fame if you so desire it).

Why would you do something if not for the passion of it? If you’re going to log 10,000 hours at anything, I would suggest you don’t just ‘like it,’ I suggest you love it. Have you noticed that Tiger Woods, Bill Gates, Oprah, Angus Young, Tom Cruise all seem to enjoy what they are doing?

They can’t help but put in their time. It’s their LIFE PURPOSE! Are you MASTERING YOURS?

Coach’s Challenge:
#1 In the past 10 years, what is one thing you’ve spent 10,000 hours mastering? Is it being a parent? Surfing in Hawaii? Writing? Reading? Coaching? Dancing? Traveling? Studying? Everyone has done at least one thing for this amount of time. Calculate it and write it down.

Marcia Bench, my recommended expert this week, shares the story of two women who loved to watch soap operas. In fact, they watched thousands of hours of soap operas. They decided, “How can we get paid to watch soap operas?” They decided to do weekly compilations of the soap opera highlights and before long, their work was featured in publications all over the country.

#2 Now that you’ve identified your 10,000 hours, how can you combine this with your Life Purpose for a winning combination?

For example, let’s say you’ve spent 20,000 hours running a family business. You now want to start your own business and express your Life Purpose as the “Big Shot Mentor and Healer in the Spotlight.”

Imagine the resources you could provide to people either wanting to start, sell, dissolve or heal their family business. And that’s just one combination. You could offer tele-classes, workshops and private consultations for folks wanting to create their dream business. Perhaps you want to coach folks creating businesses that allow them more time with their children or allow the children to participate in the business. Let your mind go wild.

I shared earlier how I love to read hands, coach, write and read books so my business is primarily structured around those activities. Those activities also allow me to express my Life Purpose as the “successful spiritual business owner with an inspirational message for a large audience.”

My process goes something like this: I read someone’s hands, reveal their Life Purpose, coach with them to make that purpose a reality, write about my discoveries and read, read, read out of insatiable curiosity to learn more about the world around me. I then integrate all of that information and bring it to audiences around the world via live speaking events, television, radio, print and the internet. The sharing of the message: “Your Life Purpose is in YOUR Hands (literally!)” is the summation of the countless hours of doing activities that I love to do.

YOUR Life Purpose is expressed fully when your mastery merges with your passion.

© 2009 The Hand Analyst, Inc. Baeth Davis is "The Hand Analyst."
Get her FREE SPECIAL REPORT, "The 5 Massive Mistakes Spiritually-Oriented Women Make in Business (… and how to avoid them!)" and her FREE hot tips to discover your specific career niche at www.handanalyst.com. Baeth won the 2007-2008 Glazer-Kennedy Information Marketer of the Year Award. She'll show you how your HANDS reveal the best way to build a business that is both purpose-full and profitable!