Outliers? 10,000 Hour Rule Inspires Man to Quit His Job to Become Pro Golfer

Via Business Insider comes the story of Dan McLaughlin:

According to the St. Petersburg Times, Dan McLaughlin quit his job on his 30th birthday and decided to become a professional golf player.

He had never even picked up a golf club in his life.

In the book "Outliers," author Malcolm Gladwell put forth the theory that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become "great" at something. McLaughlin will play golf six hours a day for six days a week for the next six years in order to become good enough to play for a living.

Day one of The Dan Plan from Dan McLaughlin on Vimeo.

McLaughlin is living The Dan Plan. What is The Dan Plan, you ask? McLaughlin explains, over at his website:

Welcome to The Dan Plan!

From newbie to professional golfer in 10,000 hours.

We passed 1,400 hours on April 15, and we're still cruising along....

It’s a project in transformation. An experiment in potential and possibilities. Through 10,000 hours of “deliberate practice,” Dan, who currently has minimal golf experience, plans on becoming a professional golfer. But the plan isn’t really about golf: through this process, Dan hopes to prove to himself and others that it’s never too late to start a new pursuit in life.

...

Dan is an average man by most standards. He’s a 30-year-old commercial photographer with no previous experience as a competitive athlete, nor is he in particularly good physical condition. Dan is slightly under average height and weight, has never played a full 18 holes of golf, and has only been to a driving range a handful of times. He’s not even sure if he’s a left-or right-handed golfer. Dan currently resides in Portland, Oregon.

August update from Dan McLaughlin on Vimeo.

The St. Petersburg Times reports:

On his 30th birthday, June 27, 2009, Dan had decided to quit his job to become a professional golfer.

He had almost no experience and even less interest in the sport.

What he really wanted to do was test the 10,000-hour theory he read about in the Malcolm Gladwell bestseller Outliers. That, Gladwell wrote, is the amount of time it takes to get really good at anything — "the magic number of greatness."

The idea appealed to Dan. His 9-to-5 job as a commercial photographer had become unfulfilling. He didn't want just to pay his bills. He wanted to make a change.

The Dan Plan from Dan McLaughlin on Vimeo.

Dan will record his experiences at his blog.

Here's to Dan--and to his 10,000 hours of hard work.