Snow has hopefully left for the current season and my trembling pace on ice after it makes me wonder how long I will have to practise living in the UK before I truly consider myself ready to take some firmer steps. What is more, is it actually possible to take the reins of a difficult issue or passion or should I just hope, wish and pray?
Gladwell might have a plausible answer. This English writer and sociologist outlined the ten-thousand-hour rule. What does it state?
According to Gladwell, if we devote 1 hour to an interest of ours, we’ll have a basic knowledge of the topic. If we dedicate 10 hours, we’ll reach a medium level of it; with 1,000 we could become specialists on the matter and with 10 thousand we could master the subject in question.
Let’s do some maths: Rehearsing 2 hours a day from Monday to Friday it could take us up to 20 years to control a content. This theory has been debated over the years, but we can still squeeze the essence out of it: Practice makes perfect, but the timing and momentum will depend on the particularities of each person.
Having said so, it is also important to develop the opportunity value and be ready to take the risk if it appears. Sometimes magical thinking and collective folklore mistakenly call it good fortune but to consider it just a stroke of luck deprives us from the chance to shape who we are or what we want to achieve in a particular moment in life.
To sum up: deliberate practice, a sharp eye and showing that you care.
If I gave you ten thousand hours to improve, what would you invest them in?
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