What does the 10,000 hour rule mean for running a dental practice?
Less than people think, and that should be a relief. The 10,000 hour idea, from Anders Ericsson, says world class mastery takes about that many hours of deliberate practice. A concert pianist puts in that kind of time. On the surgical side, yes, the more deliberate hours you log the closer you get to true mastery, and that is worth chasing. But for most of what runs a practice, you do not need 10,000 hours to be excellent. You need enough deliberate practice with feedback to be clearly very good, better than the people doing the same job nearby. The lesson is not the number. The lesson is the word deliberate. Hours of mindless repetition do not count. So do not let the size of that number scare you off. Just make sure the hours you do put in are focused, feedback driven, and aimed at something specific.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.