10,000 Hours

You know, they say you can reduce genius to someone who spent 10,000 hours trying to get good at something. I'm not claiming either one of those. I haven't done anything for 10,000 hours but sleep. But you do stuff enough, you get better at it. Usually it's a simple thing like that. Essentially, a brainless endeavor. ~ Randy Newman

You think yourself a person of talent, perhaps even genius? It is this very illusion of innate superiority that shall bring about your downfall. For true mastery, you see, is not a gift granted to the select few, but a grim bargain that one makes with time itself. The "10,000-hour rule" tells its chilling truth: 10,000 hours of diligent practice, a decade of your life laid upon the altar of your craft. Four hours a day, for ten years, your brain working, straining, going all out. The price of entry into the exclusive club of the truly great.

Chess grandmasters, surgeons, college and professional athletes, musicians, they all know this brutal truth well enough. They exchanged comfort, leisure, the joys of youth for an early relentless pursuit of mastery. You see, the human mind is a stubborn beast; it requires this type of brutal conditioning, relentless hammering, in order to yield true mastery.

Do not be taken in by the tricks of people who make it seem as if brilliant insights have burst forth unaided from a magical mind. Brilliant insights are not miraculous divine inspirations but the fruits of tireless, self-imposed struggles with one's discipline or specialty. This is the consequence of having striven repeatedly beyond one's seeming limits, the body and mind constantly being remade.

The 10,000-hour rule is a harsh reminder that there is no shortcut to elite in a sport or specific discipline. It may be long, arduous, and scarred with moments of despair. You would face doubt, you would encounter obstacles, and at times, you might even want to give up on your pursuit. But those very few who dare to persevere, who work relentlessly within the discipline of consistent effort, over 8 years of sweat, tears, frustration, exhilaration, hope and happiness, will ultimately reap the rewards.

Not only will they be proficient, but they will be formidable, their mastery the seal of their unyielding commitment and merciless pursuit of excellence.