10,000 Hours? Add Passion. Therein Lies the Challenge.

Problem is, I can’t identify with Bill Gates.

“What the…?” you ask. “Why is he talking about Bill Gates?” You see, Malcolm related a story during that radio interview. It was the story of little Billy Gates. In essence, it goes like this: back in the day, there were no PC’s. People fought…FOUGHT…for time on mainframe computers. If Joe Average wanted face time with a green screen, they’d have to take whatever sliver of time they could. For example, let’s say there was a 14-year-old boy named Bill Gates who wanted nothing more than to spend a few hours with a good, old-fashioned mainframe computer. Well, he would have to be happy with the 4 AM slot. So, young Billy Gates would have to wake up at 3:30, sneak out of his bedroom window, walk 2 miles to the University of Washington (I think), do clickety-clackety at the green screen for 4 hours, walk back home, sneak back into his room, and sleep until his mother kicked his butt out of bed.

That’s what Bill Gates did. He logged his 10,000 hours, and he loved every minute of it.

I can’t recall ever sneaking out of my bedroom window at 4 in the morning to go evaluate people’s performance or tell them what their “opportunity areas” were or let them know that they’d be getting an X% raise. I don’t recall hiking to the local corporate office to listen to people complain about their jobs or to catch flack from clients who feel like they have the right to treat you like crap just because they think they personally sign your paycheck. At 4 AM, chances are I was sneaking back INTO the house, and it wasn’t because I’d been studying all night.

If I was up at 4 AM it was because I was reading. Or writing. Or drawing.

Bill Gates logged his 10,000 hours. What made the difference, though, was his passion.

10,000 Hours? Add Passion. Therein Lies the Challenge.