10,000 Hours Is All It Takes

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Ten thousand hours is often described as the length of time it takes to master something. Language, sport, science, math, chess, music, etc.

If you practiced piano for four hours a day every day it would take you just short of 7 years to master the piano.

It would depend on a few other variables as to your chances of playing in Carnegie Hall. But you would be a pretty darn good piano player.

The stronger the aptitude you have the faster and more proficient you will be.

Where Should You Spend That 10,000 hours?

Many of you reading this might have been at the same workplace for 10,000 hours. At eight hours a day that would be about 5 years of work. At that point in time you probably know your job pretty well.

Are you happy there? Is that job fulfilling? Is it your dream job? A portion of society would probably answer no to all those questions.

Then the obvious question would be — since it only takes 10,000 hours to master something that you really enjoy, and might actually be able to make a living at, would you be willing to put in the hours?

And if so what would that be?

Fourth Grade

I remember the fourth grade class where we all stood up and told the class what we wanted to be or do when we grew up.

I wanted to be a scientist but thought the boys in the class would laugh at that so I said I wanted to be a pro baseball player.

I ended up not doing either. The last thing I ever thought I would be is a published author. My classmates too.

Some Final Thoughts

I have easily put in 10,000 hours on my web sites. I’m nowhere near Steve Jobs or Bill Gates but I am having some success from that effort.

I taught myself to play guitar and even played in a band for a time.

What would you really enjoy doing —even if it’s just a hobby? Painting, sculpting, woodworking, dancing or speaking French.

Perhaps you always wanted to read the greatest 100 books every written. You could do that in 10,000 hours. Maybe less if you are a fast reader.

Almost anything you want to master can be done in 10,000 hours if you are willing to trade the time for the end result.

Think about it. What are you willing to spend 10,000 hours to master?

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