Whenever I write about life at Herbert W. Armstrong College, some readers respond by saying, I wish I would have had an opportunity like that when I was younger. I often repeat these sentiments to our students in hopes of helping them better appreciate the opportunity God has given them—and to encourage them to make the very most of it.

It’s so easy to waste away a good opportunity.

Malcolm Gladwell has a lot to say about opportunities in his popular book Outliers. “To build a better world,” he writes, “we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that today determine success—the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents of history—with a society that provides opportunities for all.”

Though making a sensible argument for a more level playing field when it comes to available opportunities, Gladwell does acknowledge the critical importance of hard work when it comes to individual achievement. The closer psychologists look at the lives of gifted individuals, he writes, “the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play” (emphasis added throughout).

According to Gladwell, experts are who they are because they abide by the 10,000-hour rule. To achieve mastery in any field of expertise, he explains, it takes about 10,000 hours of practice over the course of about 10 years. “Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good,” Gladwell writes. “It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”

At a dinner club once, I reminded our students that they were in training to become experts in the field of balanced living. Everything offered to our students—the Bible-based liberal arts curriculum, the hands-on work-study program, the numerous fine arts engagements, the annual formal events, opportunities for travel, intramural sports activities, the active and wholesome dating life and the uplifting family atmosphere, where regular fellowship with faculty members is not only encouraged, but the low student-to-faculty ratio actually makes it possible—helps to develop the whole man, as Solomon wrote.

To that end, over the course of eight semesters, AC students receive approximately 4,500 hours of on-the-job training—maintaining and beautifying the grounds, processing and mailing millions of pieces of literature, receiving tens of thousands of calls in the call center, assisting teachers and administrators, creating Web-based and print-edition publications, writing, fact-checking and editing articles, photographing and drawing images for periodicals, building websites, writing computer programs, assisting with television production, answering correspondence, etc.

With full-time students completing about 125 course hours before graduation, that amounts to approximately 1,800 hours in the classroom over the course of their college career. If at least half that amount of time is invested in studying outside the classroom, the total amount of classroom activity would be around 2,700 hours.

Tack on another 1,200 hours for forums, Bible studies and church services over the course of four years. Added to that, there are the numerous intramural activities, campouts, dating excursions, community outreach events, formal occasions, recitals and concerts—let’s conservatively estimate that at 800 hours.

That’s over 9,000 hours so far—and we haven’t even gotten to the most important regular activity: their personal relationship with God. Following the superb examples of many great patriarchs of the Bible, we encourage students to rightly prioritize their schedules by setting aside one hour per day for earnest, heartrending prayers to their Creator God.

Most freshmen do not arrive here with this kind of consistency in their prayer lives. But all are encouraged to set that as the optimum goal. As hard as it might be to believe, some of our students graduate with a daily routine that includes one hour of prayer.

As I told them, if that routine was maintained over the course of eight semesters and three summers, it would amount to 1,300 hours of contact with God!

Of course, a healthy and productive line of communication does not work like a one-way street. We speak to God in prayer and He responds back through His inspired Word—the Holy Bible. Since Bible study is already part of their classroom instruction, we encourage students to set aside an additional 30 minutes per day for their own personal Bible study.

“Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness,” Gladwell wrote. Indeed, if AC students are committed to working on their relationship with God, work hard in class, apply themselves on the job and round out their training with numerous extra-curricular activities, they can get in their 10,000 hours.

Granted, those many hours will not be invested in one highly specialized field of expertise. They will be spread across many fields and endeavors, most of which involve God and His Family and all with a view toward ultimately sharing God’s way of life with all of mankind.

In the very beginning of God’s inspired Word, we learn that God’s purpose and plan for mankind is to reproduce His character in us (Genesis 1:26). Because of this divine purpose, Armstrong College was established as a character-building institution. It is, as we’ve said before, a modest foretaste of what educational institutions will be like in the World Tomorrow, when Jesus Christ sets up God’s government on this Earth.

I can see why some readers might wish they had the opportunity to attend AC when they were younger. I wish I had that opportunity. But as much of a blessing as AC is for our young people, God’s way of living breeds successful abundance wherever you might be in life—but only if you are willing to work really hard at it.

That’s what distinguishes top performers from the middle of the pack, Gladwell points out. “[P]eople at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else,” he writes. “They work much, much harder.”

Our college’s namesake, Herbert W. Armstrong, learned more than 60 years ago that true success is not reserved for those with superior ability, but for individuals—any individuals—willing to abide by a definite set of laws God set in motion that will guarantee successful results.

These laws were outlined in Mr. Armstrong’s most popular booklet, The Seven Laws of Success—requested by more than 3 million people during the 20th century. I re-read the booklet again after reading Gladwell’s Outliers and found it to be right up to date—packed with wise instruction that will, if applied, lead readers along a path toward success!

The very first law of success is to fix the right goal. To make sure it’s the right goal, one must first be able to define true success. Gladwell’s book, as thought-provoking as it might be, offers no specific definition of success. But judging by the case studies throughout the book, successful people are described as those who work hard to develop exceptional talent and who happen to be in the right place at the right time when opportunity knocks. For their hard work and lucky breaks, they are rewarded handsomely in the form of money or fame—or both.

God’s definition of success is totally different. While physical blessings and prosperity might be enjoyed along with success, material things alone do not bring success. Oftentimes, the more one acquires in the physical realm, the less happy he tends to be. J. Paul Getty, for example, is identified in Outliers as the 43rd richest man in human history. Yet, for all of his fabulous wealth, Getty is reputed to have said he would have given it up for one happy marriage.

God defines true success as a way of life. Jesus said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). God’s way of life—His righteousness—is the cause of all that is good and successful. But He won’t cram it down our throats. God inspired the Prophet Moses to write, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). We have to choose this way of life and then diligently seek after it, expending every ounce of determined effort, working together with God’s power, to overcome sin and to develop holy, righteous character.

This is why, in addition to all that is expected of our students, we constantly remind them of their very first priority in life: drawing near to their Creator through consistent prayer, Bible study, meditation and even occasional fasting.

Perhaps the opportunity to attend Armstrong College as a full-time student has passed you by. But your personal relationship with God is an entirely different matter. As the Apostle Paul told the Athenian philosophers, God is “not far from every one of us” (Acts 17:27). But because most are unwilling to diligently seek after Him—which does take hard work—only a minuscule few ever find Him.

In 2004, after fighting to obtain a wealth of printed material during six years of litigation, we began distributing the completely updated Herbert W. Armstrong College Bible Correspondence Course. This 36-lesson study, which forms the bedrock biblical instruction our students receive at AC, is distributed freely to all who wish to enroll. After every four lessons, our distance learning students are then asked to complete a short, relatively easy test before they can receive the next set of four lessons.

Over a span of 6½ years, over 75,000 people have signed up for the course. As of today, about 7,500 are enrolled. True, some have completed the course—but over 50,000 have dropped out. On average, 74 percent drop out after the very first test.

To date, only 3,898 people—just 5 percent of those who’ve signed up—have completed the study.

In the case of this scientific study, it’s not the extraordinary opportunities that are lacking, but rather the persistent, dogged and determined willingness to finish a course that could permanently change one’s life for the better.

Mr. Armstrong observed in The Seven Laws of Success that most people are rather content to be victimized by the circumstances around them. In the parable of the sower, Jesus described four kinds of individuals, all given the opportunity to receive God’s message. One never really got started. Two others enthusiastically began the process of learning God’s way of life. But one became distracted along the way by the cares of this world. The other lacked the strength of character to stay with it.

One of those seeds, however, took root and continued to grow, eventually producing abundant fruit. Those few who do remain diligent in seeking after God’s way of life will soon learn that an intimate relationship with God not only prepares one to take advantage of opportunities—it creates them!

To understand more about the secret to eternity-oriented success, study Mr. Armstrong’s classic work The Seven Laws of Success. Also, make sure you enroll in the Herbert W. Armstrong College Bible Correspondence Course. Force yourself to set aside time each day to work on this course—and stay with it. Then supplement this practical, Bible-based study with regular, heartfelt prayers to God.

Over time, the hours will add up and you’ll be well on your way to accumulating advanced training in the one area of expertise that matters most: how to live. Life will take on new meaning.

And opportunities will abound!