How many hours to master a skill?

Joshua Burkhart (theascent.pub, March 2018); Ellie Askew, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

We don’t need 10,000 hours to master a skill. Here are 5+ steps

You’ve probably heard the theory that it takes 10,000 hours for skill mastery.

 

It’s been a huge part of the self-development community since Malcolm Gladwell released his book Outliers (wiki version).

 

The gist of Outliers

If you’re anything like me, you’ve already run the math to determine how many hours a day for how many years you’ll have to spend in order to master meditation, yoga, martial arts, and everything else from writing to cooking.

 

In some ways this has been empowering. I feel like I can pick up any task, give it 20 years, and master it. In other ways it’s been overwhelming. I mean that’s a lot of practice.

There’s good news: Gladwell was wrong

You see, he didn’t actually interview researcher Anders Ericcson, the scientist whose work he based his 10,000 hour rule on. So he ended up misinterpreting the information. (Journalists and self-help gurus of can't handle scientific data).

 

So let’s set the record straight, it’s not exactly how much we practice, but rather how we practice.

 

According to Anders Ericcson there are two essential parts to practice, which he shares on a Freakonomics episode (LISTEN).

Purposeful practice

Purposeful practice is when we actually pick a target — something that we want to improve — and we find a training activity that would allow us to actually improve that particular aspect.

Deliberate practice

How I see myself when I sit to meditate -- a star in space in a pyramid (Ariana Grande)

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We think of deliberate practice requiring a teacher that actually has had experience of how to help individuals reach very high levels of performance.

Behavioral shifts occur when we break larger tasks down into their smaller components and practice them one step at a time, with some good teaching, self-awareness, and coaching.

Now in my own experience, a skill’s learning curve tends to be in our favor. 

You might not achieve quick mastery, but you can get exponentially better with just a little effort. 

Right now we’ll be exploring five key points that will help you gain proficiency in any skill. More

World Health/Happiness Statistics Released

Elaine Ganley (AP, 5-4-09, HuffingtonPost.com)

French dining and sleeping most (destination360.com)

 

PARIS — The French are living up to their image as lovers of food and can add a new love to the mix, sleep, according to a survey released Monday. In fact, the French excel at the two leisure activities, spending more time at table and in bed than many other nations.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development looked at the use of leisure time among 18 of its 30 member countries.

Norwegians spend the most time at leisure, just over a quarter of their day, while at the low end, Mexicans spend just 16 percent of their time having fun.

The French still win in the sleeping and eating categories, spending on average nearly 9 hours a day in bed. For the French, leisure continues in the waking hours, with more than 2 hours a day spent eating and drinking — nearly twice as much time at the table as Americans, Canadians or Mexicans.

Americans also like their sleep, spending some 8.5 hours a day doing just that.

Despite the moderate amount of time Americans spend eating each day — about an hour and a quarter — U.S. obesity rates are the highest in the 30-member OECD with 34 percent of the American population with a Body Mass Index, or BMI, over the critical 30 mark. The lowest obesity rates are found in Korea, followed by Japan, with less than 4 percent of the population with a BMI over 30.

The Koreans followed by the Japanese clock in at the low end of the sleep spectrum, getting 7.8 hours a day with the Japanese not far behind.

The profiles on the use of leisure time were constructed by the OECD using 2006 data from the 18 member countries for which up to date surveys on use of time were available.

Television ranks high among leisure activities in Japan — where it takes up 55 percent of free time, compared to a low of 25 percent for New Zealanders.

The Turks are the most sociable population. They spend more than 35 percent of their time entertaining, compared to an OECD average of 11 percent. Source