10,000 hours

[MartinH]

I'm currently reading Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers." It's a fascinating look at how people become successful. Much of what Gladwell realized is that a person needs much support and the right circumstances, and luck. But one major factor is becoming an expert in your field. After looking at several famous persons he surmises that the minimum time required to become an expert are 10,000 hours of dedicated study or practice.

Now, translate that to pipe smoking, or anything else. That's ten years of doing one thing for almost 8 hours a day.

Jeez!

 

[MisterE]

Well, 3 hours a day for 10 years. I dunno, that seems a little optimistic actually. I think it depends on what you want to become an expert at. I probably had about 10,000 hours playing trumpet by the time I was 20, perhaps even younger. I definitely wasn't an expert. Proficient, way ahead of the curve, but not an expert, lol.

EDIT: I'll also add that I know some with perhaps 40,000+ hours in that can't play their way out of a paper bag! :lol:

 

[Ocelot55]

"Outliers" was a good book. It challenges some of our preconceived notions about the way thing work.

I personally like the 10,000 hour idea. I'm working on reaching the 10,000 hour mark for pipe making. I'm at about 300 now, so I've got a way to go.

 

[Anonymous]

An ideal day of practicing used to be 14 hours (with smoke & meal breaks). A normal day of work at the bench in the violin shop, ditto.

German Proverb : "Nothing falls from the sky."

I.e., If you want to accomplish something, go accomplish it.

:face:
POWER JUST CAME ON HERE AFTER 11 HOURS

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Martin, you just reminded me of two things--I need to read "Outliers," which has been suggested to me before, and I sticking with one thing for more than two hours is going to make 10,000 really tough on me. I'm not sure which is better... being "Intermediate" at 1,000 things in my lifetime or an expert at (maybe) five things. :lol:

 

[Rob_In_MO]

I'm not sure which is better... being "Intermediate" at 1,000 things in my lifetime or an expert at (maybe) five things. :lol:

Years ago, my Hapkido Instructor told us it was better to Master 3 Techniques than to half-ass a dozen. Sometimes hard to do in life, but we all understood what he was getting at.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

Years ago, my Hapkido Instructor told us it was better to Master 3 Techniques than to half-ass a dozen. Sometimes hard to do in life, but we all understood what he was getting at.

My Aikido instructor, funny enough, often says reliance on any number techniques will never assure an outcome for the one attack you cannot deal with. What he was getting at was the idea to take life as it comes and do the best you can with what you have, because there are no guarantees. 8)

 

[Anonymous]

The whole idea -- it should go without saying -- hinges on knowing what you're doing.

Repeating the same mistakes for years on end only makes them harder to un-learn.

:face:

 

[MisterE]

Well, you know what they say about "doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result".... :affraid:

 

[plumbernater]

You beat me to the draw mr E.

 

[Centurian 803]

I thought all it took to be an expert was to travel more than 100 miles and carry a briefcase :shock: .