The 10,000 hours rule, what a romantic idea. But I’d take anything Malcolm Gladwell says with a grain of salt. Practice is only one piece of the success equation. The other elements are talent, motivation, luck—everybody always seems to forget about luck—and there’s another powerful force at play here, my personal addition: self-reflection.

So we’ve got practice, talent, motivation, luck, and self-reflection.

Are you pursuing success in things that matter to you? Then motivation shouldn’t be an issue. So you’re left with talent and luck on the one hand, not in your control; practice and self-reflection on the other, which you can exercise deliberately and create a virtuous cycle. The game is still far from fair; at least play all the cards you have.