10,000 hours

We have all heard about the 10,000 hour rule. But what does it mean and how do we get it to work for us. From many successful people to geniuses, including the seemingly-overnight successes, the 10,000 hours rule is a commonly accepted rule. It merely states that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become the master of your craft.

But there is so much more to it that just that. 10000 is an arbitrary number. What it means to me is hours of focused practice. It definitely seems logical that the more you practice something you will get better at it. But to become the master of a craft, be it playing an instrument, writing, or playing basketball, to become the best at it, it would need hours of focused practice. Not just practice, focused practice. You need to be able to learn from your mistakes, keep trying to get better every time.

Practice trumps Talent –

It is this growth mindset to understand that perseverance overcome talent. The time that you put in to learn from your failures, and learn from every single time your practiced your craft is what develops talent.

How can I use 10,000 in my life?

To master any craft, you need to put in the time. But how do we make time in this already busy life of ours? First things first, learn the basics first and then make a long term plan. Make time everyday to work on this. When working on your craft just focus on that and nothing else. This rule really helps us over failures and persevere through them. I think the key take away here is to train your mind to see the bumps as just a learning tool.

Keep the streak going

A very satisfying way to develop a habit is to start crossing them off on your calendar. To keep going is to avoid breaking the streak. This will put a little bit of pressure on you to keep going especially on days when you don’t feel like it. There will always be such days when we don’t feel like going to the gym or for that run.

When I look over my old blog posts, my old knitting or sewing projects, I can see how far I have come. There is still so much to learn and improve on. So all we can do is when we are taking the time out for something, keep the streak going, and do it deliberately with all our focus and attention.