How can you do 10x more?
Let's talk about effort a little bit.
I’m sure you’ve heard about the “10,000 hours rule”: it takes around 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to master a skill. That's according to research by Anders Ericsson, the psychologist who popularized the rule.
10,000 hours is a lot of time — roughly 40 hours/week, for 5 years straight.
Then recently I came across an early 1900s author named Charles Hamilton. Never heard of him? I hadn't either. But Charles has an important lesson for us.
Charles wrote mostly adventure stories for young British boys, that were serialised and published in newspapers. Apparently very successfully.
Now, here’s the kicker with Charles:
Charles Hamilton wrote over 100 million words in his career — the equivalent of 5,000 stories or 1,200 full novels! He churned out around 7,000 new words every single day for 40 years straight.
That's a ludicrous volume of output. In fact, it makes Charles the most prolific writer in history. It also illustrates an important truth: Meaningful success comes from consistent, repeated effort over time.
Reps matter.
Imagine what it takes to write 7.000 published words (not braindumps, but published work) every single day.
Sometimes, all the good things simply result from doing the volume of work.
Arnold Schwarzenegger spent a ridiculous amount of time putting his muscles under weight.
Michael Phelps was doing laps in the pool for 5-6 hours per day, 6 days a week.
The Beatles played a staggering 1,200 shows in small venues in Germany before they signed a first record deal and broke through.
By almost any standard, all these things are ridiculous volumes of repetitions.
There’s a difference between the “work harder” advice that pro-hustle gurus like Gary Vaynerchuck or Alex Hormozi promote, and the cases here.
Charles Hamilton didn’t merely “work harder” — he found a system and a process to predictably churn out a great volume of work. Almost certainly, his life revolved around it. He made himself part of the machine. Same for Schwarzenegger, Phelps or the Beatles.
We all want quick wins and viral explosions of growth. But in reality, most marketing gains come from putting in the reps:
Sending email after email, steadily growing your list
Testing ad after ad, relentlessly honing your copy
Having sales call after sales call, getting a little better each time
Publishing blog post after blog post, increasing your authority
Think about Charles Hamilton banging out 7,000 words each and every day. That's how you need to approach your marketing efforts.
Success in this game is about consistent volume and repetition over time.
It's about showing up and putting in the work day after day.
That’s not about motivation.
It’s about processes.
It’s about habits.
It’s about systems.
The reps matter — repeated effort compounds.
As growth marketers and entrepreneurs, we need to embrace the grind.
Volume matters.
Next time you're not sure why you're not successful, ask yourself a tough question: "how can I do 10x more of this?"
What processes can you change?
Which habits can you adopt?
What systems can you build?
How can you do 10x more?
The reps matter (ask Charles Hamilton).
Best,
—Pieter