Warren Buffett doesn't believe in the '10,000-hour rule'—what he suggests you do instead to gain mastery

CNBC

09-05-2025

With an estimated net worth of $160 billion, Warren Buffett could easily be labeled an anomaly. But if you want to be good at investing, too, he says, you can — just know that 10,000 hours of practice won't necessarily get you there.
"I don't believe in that book that talked about spending 10,000 hours at something," he said at Berkshire Hathaway's 2025 shareholder meeting. "I could spend 10,000 hours at tap dancing and you'd throw up if you watched me," he added.
That appears to be a reference to Malcolm Gladwell's 2008 book "Outliers" which helped popularize the idea that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a talent or subject. CNBC Make It has reached out to Gladwell for comment.
In "Outliers," Gladwell called 10,000 hours the "magic number" in terms of the time needed to spend practicing a skill to become an expert. That could go for playing the violin, writing fiction or virtually any other field.
The so-called "10,000-hour rule" has been oversimplified, however, Gladwell subsequently pointed out. "Practice isn't a SUFFICIENT condition for success," he said in 2014. "I could play chess for 100 years and I'll never be a grandmaster. The point is simply that natural ability requires a huge investment of time in order to be made manifest."
At the shareholder meeting, Buffett underlined the importance of identifying what skills you already have and what you love doing, and then find people who can teach you to improve. Ideally that means spending time with instructors or mentors, though it may be just as valuable to read what experts in your field have written on the subject.
"If I spent 10 hours reading Ben Graham, I would be damn smart when I got through," Buffett said, referring to one of his most impactful mentors. "Find your own path and you will find the people in schooling that want to talk to you."
It may seem financially wise to pursue a career or trade that you're not too interested in because it pays well. But you may be more likely to succeed by pursuing the thing that you're good at and excited about.
"If my ambition had been to become a ventriloquist or whatever it might have been, it wouldn't have worked," Buffett said at the shareholder meeting. "I just spent hours and hours and hours on investing."
Lucky for him, the topic he was interested in happened to be a lucrative career path. But he was able to master investing in part because his teachers and mentors were impressed with his curiosity and excited to work with him.
"People that teach, in general, love having a young student who's actually really interested in the subject, and they'll spend extra time with you," he said. Reflecting on his time at Columbia University, Buffett said his professors treated him "like a son."
"I was interested in what they were saying and they found it kind of entertaining that I was so interested, so I would look around at what really fascinates you. I wouldn't try and be somebody else," he added.
Career experts often agree that your interests and natural skills should guide your career decisions more than the potential starting salary. When you choose a college major, for example, it's better to pursue a field of study you're genuinely interested in, not just something you think will help you get paid well.
Doing so can help you be more successful in school — and it may still pay off down the line.
"Your interests may match with a job that can ultimately pay you a really good salary right out of the gate," Kafui Kouakou, assistant vice president of career development and experiential learning at Quinnipiac University previously told CNBC Make It. "Some others you may have to start a little bit slow, start to make some money and then over time, it continues to increase and grow from there."