The 10,000 Experiment Rule

We’ve all heard of the 10,000 Hour rule, but James Altucher thinks it’s BS. Instead he likes to think of the 10,000 experiment rule.

Here he explains the idea:

An experiment means: Try something that everyone else is afraid to try. Try to learn what happens on the other side of “You CAN’T/shouldn’t do that!”

Then you are the only person on the other side of Can’t. That is success.

Each experiment let’s you skip part of the 10,000 hours.

I know this because I’ve done it. You can fail on 10,000 experiments but then suddenly you’re Thomas Edison.

That’s why years of invisible work seem like overnight successes.

I used to cry after failing. Sometimes I still do. It’s so painful. I always feel like giving up.

But maybe the one thing I learned is to keep the experiments small.

Tomorrow is always another day. A new experiment.

My career has had a non-linear trajectory up until this point. Personally, I found that experiments helped me skip the line.

For example, product management internships are generally pretty difficult to get. Instead of following the linear path of practicing for interviews and networking, I helped build one of the largest student run tech conferences in the country.

Here, I skipped the line and had an amazing PM opportunity find me.

Experiments are inherently risky, but the more shots you take, one of them is bound to score.

Think big and experiment often.