Think back on your day. Now identify the times that you contributed to your own greatness. Cut out the times spent eating, chatting and sleeping, although those are surely important. Cut out the time spent puttering around on Nintendo Wii or text messaging.

How many hours minutes are left?

This is the question asked by Malcolm Gladwell in his best-selling book Outliers, The Story of Success. It's just as captivating as The Tipping Point and Blink but more applicable to the American society as we struggle to regain ground that was lost during the recession.

The fact is that very, very few of us "make it big" on the fly. Instead, we log hundreds if not thousands of hours practicing our craft. Gladwell argues that it is nearly provable that the greatest artists, engineers and professionals earn their stripes by practicing for 10,000 hours. I know that my craft is secondary education and leadership. How about you? What's your area of expertise? Motherhood? Law? Entrepeneurship?

Whatever it is that you specialize in, be sure to get in your hours today. You are contributing to your own log of 10,000 hours.

*Photo by whiskeygonebad