What Is The 5-Hour Rule? #TBT

Today's blog post was originally published last year:

I came across this article a few days ago and thought it was pretty interesting.

You may have heard about the 10,000 hour rule from the book "Outliers", where it's said that it takes 10,000 hours of effort to become an expert at something. But the 5-hour rule says that it takes 5 hours per week to maintain what you currently know.

Here’s The Simple Math Behind The 5-Hour Rule 

Let’s assume that it took you 5,000 hours to master your field. To put this number into context, it takes about 6,400 hours of class time and studying to get a 4-year degree. 

After all of this learning, you’re a happy pumpkin. You feel prepared for your profession. You’re armed with the latest and greatest skills. 

But, here’s the thing… 

Every second that passes by, the knowledge in your head becomes a little bit outdated, and, therefore a little less valuable. Just like a new car you buy becomes less valuable the second you drive it off the lot.

But what does that mean in regards to maintaining what you currently know?

In other words, after 10 years, 50% of the facts in the field would be outdated. This is a realistic number for many of today’s fastest moving fields.

Ok. So, let’s explore what this mean for those 5,000 hours of learning you did? 

Put simply, it means this…

Of course, you wouldn’t learn all of those hours all at once. If you spread out the learning, you’d need to learn 5 hours per week, 50 weeks a year, just to stay up to date.

And that doesn't even take into account this important factor:

We are forgetting what we know. Finally, we have the Forgetting Curve, which shows that we humans forget nearly everything we are exposed to over time without reinforcement.

So, you need to spend 5 hours a week just to stay current with what you know!

Interesting days

Today - Loosen Up, Lighten Up Day, World Diabetes Day, Spicy Guacamole Day, Operating Room Nurse Day and Pickle Day

Tomorrow - Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day, Spicy Hermit Cookie Day, America Recycles Day, Philanthropy Day, I Love to Write Day and Bundt Cake Day

Week long celebrations:

November 11 - 17: Human-Animal Relationship Awareness Week

November 12 - 18: Talk Money Week

Next Thursday - World Hello Day, Stuffing Day, False Confession Day, Red Mitten Day, Use Less Stuff Day, Beaujolais Nouveau Day, Social Enterprise Day and World Television Day

Week long celebrations:

November 18 - 24: Road Safety Week 

December 14 - Monkey Day, Bouillabaisse Day, Gingerbread Decorating Day and Roast Chestnuts Day

Month long celebrations:

November 28 - December 31: A Blue Christmas