Michael Jordan once said, “I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career. I lost almost 300 matches. 26 times I was trusted to make the winning shot and I missed it. I have failed over and over again in my life. And that’s why I’m successful” (BrainyQuote). To be successful means to achieve a goal or task at hand. Many people want to succeed but don't know how to get there. In his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell writes: “Becoming a chess grandmaster also seems to take about ten years…And what is ten years? Well, that's about how long it takes to put in ten thousand hours of intensive practice. Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness. (Gladwell 41). Gladwell is right: ten thousand hours is the magic number, because mastering a certain skill cannot happen overnight. The “Ten Thousand Hours” rule is the formula for successfully mastering a skill because it integrates practice, talent and, above all, opportunity. The first part of the “Ten Thousand Hours” rule incorporates practice. Practicing a certain skill is essential to the ten thousand hour rule. If people expect success without practice, they won't get anywhere. It takes days, hours and years of practice to master something. A perfect example of hours of practice would be Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan spent countless hours on and off the court improving his basketball game. Without these hours, his career would never have been as successful. In his book Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell states perfectly what practice is when he says: “Practice is not the thing you do once you get good, it's the thing you do which makes you good” (Gladwell 42). Gladwell is middle of paper......combining three key points, which are practice, talent and opportunity. By devoting a large number of hours to practicing a certain skill, people are bound to succeed in mastering that certain skill. People are born with different talents. Individuals need to develop their talents, because the more they develop their talents, the more likely they are to succeed. Finally, people with good opportunities can succeed in any skill. Therefore, people should adopt the “ten thousand hours” rule and apply it to their own skills to achieve success. Works Cited Gladwell, Malcolm. “The 10,000 hour rule.” Outliers: The Success Story. New York: Little Brown and, 2008. 35-68. Print. Gladwell, Malcolm. “Martia’s market.” Outliers: The Success Story. New York: Little Brown and, 2008. 250-69. Print."Michael Jordan Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore and Web. March 7. 2014.