A Friend Indeed

(Washington Post illustration)

Malcolm Gladwell's 2008 book, Outliers, popularized the 10,000 hour rule ("you need to have practiced, to have apprenticed, for 10,000 hours before you get good.") How much time do we need to build close friendships? The answer: 200 hours.

We need between 40 and 60 hours together for an acquaintance to become a casual friend, according to a study by Jeffrey Hall, professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas, who surveyed adults who moved to a new location as well as college freshmen in their first two months of school.

In order to move from casual friends to close friends, you need to spend an additional 140 to 160 hours together for a total of about 200 hours, the study found.

However, deeper interactions can accelerate that timeline. You can form a close bond in less than 200 hours, Hall says, with meaningful conversations and a willingness to be vulnerable.

Conversely, spending 200 hours together doesn’t necessarily mean a person will become a close friend. They have to want to be your friend. Some co-workers can spend 300 hours together and never become close friends.

200 hours may not seem like much, but it is the equivalent of five work-weeks.

I've let friendships founder, but when I've exhibited genuine need, friends--some unexpectedly--have come running to my side. At such times 200 hours seems like a small price to pay.