10,000 Hours to Mastery
Posted on Feb 8th, 2008
by 
Duff
Duff
A great article was published today on LifeClever about the oft mentioned claim that mastery of something takes about 10,000 hours of practice.
From what I've seen, this is true. This means that we are unlikely to master very many things! For it would take 5 years of 5.5 hours a day of practice, or 10 years of 2.75 hours a day of practice to master something by this formula.
Great musicians practice at least this much, if not double. My friends in the conservatory of music would practice 5-10 hours a day, in addition to music theory classes and ensemble practice. The best practice more, and have natural passion and talent, and practice more intelligently too.
What one thing would you like to master? What is your life purpose and passion?
For me, I find that I want to master so many things it's hard to narrow it down. But there are ways of seeing the multiple things I am working on mastering as "one thing"--just as Ken Wilber mastered the "one thing" of integrating everything.
From what I've seen, this is true. This means that we are unlikely to master very many things! For it would take 5 years of 5.5 hours a day of practice, or 10 years of 2.75 hours a day of practice to master something by this formula.
Great musicians practice at least this much, if not double. My friends in the conservatory of music would practice 5-10 hours a day, in addition to music theory classes and ensemble practice. The best practice more, and have natural passion and talent, and practice more intelligently too.
What one thing would you like to master? What is your life purpose and passion?
For me, I find that I want to master so many things it's hard to narrow it down. But there are ways of seeing the multiple things I am working on mastering as "one thing"--just as Ken Wilber mastered the "one thing" of integrating everything.
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10000
April 2008
Yeah, that sounds about right. The one thing I've devoted the most time to (and obviously you already know this) is formal meditation practice. From the little over 5 years practicing daily about an hour a day + the 6 1/2 months of full time practice I'd say I've spent about 4,000 hours meditating thus far, and I could totally see it taking near to 10,000 hours to really see having a handle on some of this stuff. That being said, it is amazing to see how hours in really do equal results out. Without getting to reductionistic about it, I do really think that looking at mastery in these terms makes anything possible, though as you mention one doesn't have the time for everything (at least not until radical life extension becomes a reality) and so we have to narrow some of it down and go deep.
Here's to mastery!
Thanks for the hat tip on the great post. Just wrote my first blog post in months because of it:)
On a side note w/ master, I definitely agree we need to narrow our choices given our hours seem pretty finite thus far:) However, I'm wondering for scanner types if there is some sort of mastery in something we might call adaptability. Now, the two of us have already talked about scanner types, but I'm digging a little more. It's obvious the some scanner types can simply avoid any mastery whatsoever. But an intelligent, self-aware scanner I think can do amazing things, but it might look a little different than what is traditionally thought of as mastery: the mastery of one single, isolated skill set. However, my mini-mastery of a handful of skillsets have seemed to offer me a unique combo of skills that produce something greater than the sum of its parts. Even if that's not the case, I have the though of the utility player on a baseball team, which our often highly valued. They're not as good as any person who plays only one position, but they're damn useful to the team:P Of course, there is still the point that one must dedicate themselves to skill sets and not simply brush them superficially. Anyways, just some things i'm pondering:)
As a scanner (jack-of-all-trades, Renaissance Man) I'm totally pondering the same things, Ryan.
With the metaphor you used, you could say that not only the utility player on the baseball team, but also the coach of the team needs to be familiar with all the ways in which all the parts interact, which includes having some skill in each of the things.
I don't know enough about systems theory yet, but I'm guessing that there is a role in every system of sufficient complexity that involves this kind of integrating or meta-view, and that us scanners or Jacks and Jills of all trades function in such a way socially, especially in the information age where there is so much specialization that no one can speak the same language.
Hey, there's a blog post idea! :)
Excellent point! I think you're on to it here. Speaking of sports coaches, most of the coaches I've seen in the professional realm we're average at best at actually playing the sport, but it was there playing it, often more than one position, that prepared to become master coaches. The same principles of mastery apply to being a master coach, but I think it broadens the possibilities of what one can master.
I also think you're on to something about the information age. The world is so intimately and immediately connected that there does seem a gap for jack-of-all-trades to fill. I'd love to hear more about your thoughts on this…perhaps in a blog post!;)
Come to think of it, I’ve definitely spent more hours than that as a parent, a mother, a homemaker, a manager so I guess I’m a master of so many things already or am I? Thank you your thought provoking article, Duff!
Totally, Mila!