10,000 hours ... & then some :)

A Bridge not too far 2019

To become an "expert", IMHO, is somewhat misguided as the more you know, the less you know as any craft requiring expertise will continue to confound the "expert" in question as taking a beginners mind to the discipline is key to become one with the profession one has undertaken. With this in mind, the article in Pysche regarding on how to become an expert is apt to a fault as there's always a cost in becoming truly competent in anything worthwhile.

The drive to become expert – to become as good as we can be, at whatever we’ve chosen to do – is something we all share. It is not about external markers of success, such as moving up the career ladder or becoming more marketable (though that may happen too). It’s an internal, ontological process; a shift in the nature of who you are, not just what you can do. It’s a commitment to developing your own potential as a person, to pushing your limits. It transcends short-term goals and waypoints. Running counter to contemporary pressures to show quick results, it requires decades of commitment and effort – perhaps a lifetime – and there are no shortcuts. It’s a slow-burning fuse, especially when you don’t seem to be getting anywhere and you feel like giving up. Being expert means you can achieve excellent results almost every time and in any situation – not just pull off the occasional success.

Prepare yourself for the long haul and more

A lot of people talk glibly about ‘the 10,000 hour rule’. This comes from the work of K Anders Ericsson, a psychologist who devoted his life to researching how people become expert. Several decades ago, he started observing ‘elite performers’ as he called them, especially in the world of music. He discovered that all those who had become successful in this highly competitive world had spent at least 10,000 hours in ‘sustained deliberate practice’. By this he meant working in a focused, concentrated way, with the intention to make progress – very different from mindless repetition of a task when your attention is somewhere else. Ericsson’s ‘10,000 hours’ has become something of a mantra, popularised by writers such as Malcolm Gladwell.

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