A couple days ago, I wrote about the “Michael Jordan Method To Music Mastery.” I recommend you go check it out.
But in it, I introduced a concept from Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Outliers” which asserts that it takes about “10,000 hours to master a skill.”
I got some really good feedback both via the comments and e-mail. But one of my favorites came from J.R. Massey:
Great motivating article!!! I did some number crunching and found out:
a. 10,000 hours divided by 1 hour/day = 27 1/3 years
b. 10,000 hours divided by 3 hours/day = 9 years
c. 10,000 hours divided by 6 hours/day = 4 1/2 years
d. 10,000 hours divided by 12 hours/day = 2 1/3 yearsAll this says to me is that mastery can be achieved, depending upon your dedication to the task at hand!!! Thanks Jermaine!! Yah bless!!
Question to everyone: How many people actually took that stat to heart and calculated the years like J.R. Massey? How many took the time to think about it like this?
And that is my point today…
Most won’t take action and do what it takes to succeed at their passions. Only the dedicated few. J.R. Massey seems to be in that group.
And from studying some of the best self-taught musicians in the world, I’ve discovered they all have these things in common:
- Drive
- Determination
- Discipline
- Commitment
- Curiosity
- Passion
- Patience
- Persistence
They aren’t necessarily the smartest people alive. Probably got mediocre grades. No chart-topping I.Q.’s. Some illiterate.
But they go the extra mile. They do the things others aren’t willing. While others are playing, they’re working. While others are watching Kobe live his dreams on the court, they’re busy making their own dreams come true.
I heard of Jairus, the master guitarist I introduced you to a couple years ago, doing 1,000 repetitions of a run until he got it right. Have you done 50 repetitions of one thing?
A mentor of mine says it best: “Get everything you can out of all that you’ve got!”
Until next time,
JG
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