The world is your lobster (Part 4): Risk and the 10,000 hour rule

Things are different these days.

It used to be that you would leave school and enter a career, or a course of study and that would be the thing that you would do for the rest of your life. It seems that, these days, people can and do have several jobs or careers throughout their lives. You can study one thing...take a gap year and do another...then get a job for a few years in another...after that, who knows? There are more options, easier transitions and more plentiful resources for whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it.

I think the key is finding the balance between change and commitment. In this world where there are new options presented with every corner you turn, it is far too easy to give up on something and go to the next thing. Having said that, it is also easy to stay in a job that is slowly destroying your soul just because you are scared to change.

When my mum was in her fifties, she gave up a career in teaching, which she had been doing for about 30 years, to run a bed and breakfast. She was a good teacher, but after a while, it just didn't excite her, so she left her job and worked towards the one thing that she had always wanted to do. She was a good teacher, but she is a great B&B owner. Strumhor B&B (www.strumhor.co.uk - that's it on the left), under the Connel Bridge is beautiful. The rooms are comfortable, the home made bread is the best smell to wake up to and the conservatory provides some awesome views. I love this place. And my mum is happier than I ever saw her when she was teaching.

Sometimes, change is ok. More than ok. Sometimes change is necessary.

I also know of people who have jumped around from career to career. As soon as one job gets too hard, or they have a bad day, or they feel a little bored, they look for the next thing.

I have to admit, I've been tempted by this.

The times when I most want to change careers are the times when I feel like I'm not a good physio, when it just feels like there is too much to know and I've just scratched the surface. I hate not being amazing at my career. I hate feeling not good enough. In those times, I've looked at many options: going into research, completely retraining in costume design or journalism, stepping into a management role.

And maybe someday, that will be there right thing, but I've recently been reminded of the 10,000 hour rule - a rule that states that the key to success in anything is practising it for 10,000 hours*. Being in the middle of that 10, 000 hours is difficult, but if you want to get anywhere, if you want to be successful, it's key.

So, find your balance. Don't quit because it's too hard or you have a bad day, but also, don't avoid change because it's too risky or you're too scared.

*Malcolm Gladwell in the book, "Outliers"